"All of the peoples of antiquity made sweetmeats of honey before they had sugar: the Chinese, the
Indians, the people of the Middle East, the Egyptians and then the Greeks and Romas used it coat
fruits, flowers, and the seeds or stems of plants, to preserve them for use as an ingredient in the
kind of confectionery still made in those countries today. Confectioner and preserves featured in
the most sumptuous of Athenian banquets, and were an ornament to Roman feasts at the time of
the Satyricon, but it seems that after that the barbarian invasions Europe forgot them for a while,
except at certain wealthy courts were Eastern products were eaten...At the height of the Middle
Ages sweetmeats reappeared, on the tables of the wealthy at first...In fact the confectionery of the
time began as a marriage of spices and sugar, and was intended to have a therapeutic or at least
preventative function, as an aid to digestive troubles due to the excessive intake of food which
was neither very fresh nor very well balanced...guests were in the habit of carrying these
sweetmeats to their rooms to be taken at night. They were contained in little comfit-boxes or
drageoirs...."
---History of Food, Maguelonne Toussaint-Samat [Barnes & Noble Books:New York]
1992 (p. 565-6)
[NOTE: This book has an excellent chapter on the history of confectionery and preserves. Ask
your librarian to help you find a copy.]

"Candy...The ancient Egyptians preserved nuts and fruits with honey, and by the Middle Ages
physicians had learned how to mask the bad taste of their medicines with sweetness, a practice
still widespread. Boiled "sugar plums were
known in the seventeenth-century England and soon were to appear in the American colonies
where maple-syrup candy was popular in the North and benne-seed [sesame seed] confections
were just as tempting in the South. In New Amersterdam one could enjoy "marchpane," or
"marzipan," which is very old decorative candy made from almonds ground into a sweet paste.
While the British called such confections, "sweetmeats," Americans came to call "candy," from
the Arabic qandi, "made of sugar," although one finds "candy" in English as early as the fifteenth
century...Caramels were known in the early eighteenth century and lollipops by the 1780s..."Hard candies" made from lemon or peppermint
flavors were popular in the early nineteenth century...A significant moment in candy history occured
at the 1851 Great Exhibition in London, where "French-style" candies with rich cream centers
were first displayed...But it was the discovery of milk chocolate in Switzerland in 1875 that made
the American candy bar such a phenomenon of the late nineteenth century."
---Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New
York] 1999 (p. 54-5)
[NOTE: This source has much more information than can be paraphrased. Ask your librarian to
help you find a copy. It also contains separate entries for specific types of candies.]

About the candy butcher profession
"263. Concessioner, butcher, September 19, 2004 - I have a question as to why a concessioner is
called a butcher, at the circus. Is there a historic reason or story?...
Reply: September 19, 2004 - Here's what Joe McKennon has to say about it in Circus Lingo -
"Candy Butcher: Concession salesman who sells concession items on the circus seats before and
during a performance. The story is that the first person to do this was the animal meat butcher on the
Old John Robinson Show sometime before the Civil War. He was so successful, he was able to quit
his job as meat butcher. When others started selling items on the seats they were called butchers also.
When the new railroads allowed men to sell confections and newspapers on their trains they were
also called butchers, 'news butchers.'" J. Griffin.
Reply: September 19, 2004 - Joe McKennon's definition of "Candy Butcher" in Circus Lingo about a
concession salesman who sells to the crowd is exact. The Webster's New World Dictionary of the
American Language defines "Candy Butcher" as selling confections and newspapers on trains. As for
being attributed to a butcher hired between 1856 and 1860 on the John Robinson Circus, it is a
matter of conjecture. Hawking merchandise such as candies, peanuts, drinks, etc., is like butchering
meat. Cutting a carcass into pieces and putting it on a tray. We must consider that before the advent
of pink lemonade and cotton candy they did sell sausages at the circus. The etymology for salesman
in the 19th Century was "Drummer" which gave us the expression "To drum-up business."
Appropriating a word to give it a different meaning is part of the American tradition in the use of
slang. Giovanni Iuliani."
SOURCE: Circus Historical Society message board.

"Containers are essential; they help maintain low humidity, hold sweets together, and protect them during transport. Before the nineteenth century, options were
limited. Fruit in syrup was mostly stored in earthenware gallipots, and small sugar confections and pastes in oblong or round boxes made of thin sheets of
matchwood...'Jar glasses' (small, cylindrical glass containers) were in use by the seventeeenth century but they are rarely mentioned. They were expensive,
limited to wealthy households or enterprises. Glass jars probably did not become common until the late eighteenth century when, though used as storage containers,
their emphasis had switched to a means of display. They include straight jars presumably for conserves or jams, small, stemmed glasses for jellies and larger ones
with lids for sweets and comfits. Tall straight-sided and later ones with lids are also shown. Glass was used more and more to show off the bright colours and
clarity of newly fashionable, transparent acid and fruit drops to brilliant advantage in the 1830s and '40s...Another imporant innovation, from the 1850s onwards,
was the airtight tin--especially for toffee. Functional yet decorative, these became coveted in their own right. Commemorative versions were produced for national
events, or the patterns designed so that a set of tins with themed pictures was avaialble. Transparent wrapping is a product of our own age. Cellophane was
introduced in the 1920s and plastics followed later."
---Sugarplums and Sherbet: The Prehistory of Sweets, Laura Mason [Prospect Books:Devon] 2004 (p. 202-3)

"Wrappers, although treated as so much waste paper, account for much of the colour perceived in confectionery by the modern observer. This is a phenonemnon of
the last hundred years. Before, a scrap of paper wrapped round a sugar stick or twisted into a cone (the origin of the triangular paper bag) was the most one could
expect when buying sweets in the street. These wrappers were themselves waste paper. Henry Mayhew recorded how one street-seller of sweet stuff bought
paper from stationers or secondhand book shops, including the Acts of Parliament, 'a pile of these a foot or more deep, lay on the shelf. They are used to wrap
rock &c. sold.' Smarter confectioners used paper wrappers with cut or fringed ends twisted around sweets. A French custom of making these up as packets of
bonbons for presents at New Year is metioned by Jarrin. The London confectionery Tom Smith is said to have commercialized the idea in Britain. His bonbons
consisted of several sweets wrapped together in tissue paper, with mottoes enclosed. They were first introduced as a Christmas novelty in the late 1840s. Shortly
afterwards, Smith added a 'bang', evolving the modern Christmas Cracker. The theory is that the idea was provided by a spark leaping out of the fire one night.
However, exploding 'cracker bonbons' were apparently known some years earlier."
---ibid (p. 205)

"Initially, chocolate was packed as unwrapped bars in wooden boxes with paper labels, displayed on the shop counter. Individual paper wrappers developed soon
afterwards. Gold printing and metal foils repeated this luxury message which gold leaf had given to sweets in earlier centuries. Designs used the latest images, and
graphics publicized the desirability of chocolate. Even more status was attached to special boxes, decroated with pcitures, lined with tissue and paper lace. As the
package, not the contents, occupied more and more of the foreground, so advertising has shifted almost entirely from the taste of confectioenry towards style by
association."
---ibid (p. 207-8)

"Most companies concentrated on indivudally wrapped toffees as opposed to bulk tray toffee sold by weight. They were popular, kept well, and sold at a lower
price than chocolate while maintaining a luxurious image. This was done partly by advertising and packaging. Robert Opie examined the role of packaging,
especially tins, in marketing confectionery, and commented on toffee: 'splendid and glamorous tins abounded with bright colours and decorative patterns. The use of
a tin also enhanced the status of the toffees, making them a more acceptable gift in comparison with the prestigious box of chocolates'."
---ibid (p. 191)

"The most important contribution of the Northeast Indians to American cooking is perhaps that which
falls in the category of sweetening....Maple syrup was the great sweetener, and much more than that: it
was also the all-purpose seasoner, which for the Northeast Indians took the place of salt. It impressed
Europeans enormously, since the sugar maple did not exist in the Old World. Father Nouvel, a French
Jesuit priest, wrote in 1671 of "a liquor that runs from the trees toward the end of winter and is known as
maple-water." The Indians tapped the trees rather wastefully, slashing the bark with their tomahawks and
letting the sap ooze out. The colonists followed the Indian example in using maple sugar as their principle
sweetener; two hundred years ago Americans were consuming four times as much as they do now. One
reason for the popularity of maple sugar was that it was much cheaper than white sugar, made form the
cane the Spaniards had planted in the West Indies, until at least 1860...It is conceivable that it is because
maple sugar was their common seasoner that the American Indian exercised his most potent influence on
the character of American cooking. It might be argued that the sweetness maple sugar imparted to the
dishes the Pilgrims cooked under the inspiration of the Indians helped to make sweetness a dominant
feature of American cooking."
---Eating in America: A History, Waverly Root & Richard de Rochemont [William Morrow:New York]
1976 (p. 40-1)

"Colonists found maple trees in abundance. The harvesting of the "sugar trees" in seventeenth-century
Virginia is a part of the record left by Robert Beverly. ...However, it is in the North, and particularly in
New England, that Americans established maple sugar and maple syrup as one of the great indigenous
culinary ingredients. Nowhere else in the world has "sugarin' off" been important in farm life, for it is aprt
of living off theland learned from Algonquin Indians by the founders of Massachusetts. From the Atlantic
coast to Ontario and Minnesota, various tribes traditionally went into the woods in March to make cuts in
the bark of hard maples and then to channel the tree sap into rustic vessels set to receive it. Indian women
boiled it down to sugar, adding it to porridges made of ground corn; mixing it into cold water, they drank
it as a tonic in hot weather. The Indians also used crystallized maple syrup as a seasoning for meat and
fish dishes, a flavoring they much preferred to the Europeans use of salt. And there is an echo of this when
some Americans add maple syrup to the water in which country hams are boiled."
---American Food: The Gastronomic Story, Evan Jones [Vintage:New York] 1981, 2nd edition (p. 16-7)

"A. saccharinum. Wangenh. Rock Maple. Sugar Maple. North America. This large, handsome tree must be included among the
cultivated food plants, as in some sections of New England groves are protected and transplanted for the use of the tree to
furnish sugar. The tree is found from 40 degrees north in Canada, to the mountains in Georgia and from Nova Scotia to Arkansas and the
Rocky Mountains. The sap from the trees growing in maple orchards may gie as an average one pound of sugar to four gallons of sap, and a
sinble tree may furnish four or five pounds, although extreme yields have been put as high as thirty-three pounds from a
single tree. The manufacture of sugar form sap of the maple was known to the Indians, for Jeffereys, 1760, says that in Canada
'this tree affords great quantities of a cooling and wholesome liquor from which they make a sort of sugar,' and Jonathan Carver, in 1784, says
the Nandowessies Indians of the West 'consume the sugar which they have extracted from the maple tree.' In 1870, the Winnebagoes and
Chippewas are said often to sell to the Northwest Fur Company fifteen thousand pounds of sugar a year. The sugar season among the
Indians is a sport of carnival, and boiling candy and pouring it out on the snow to cook is a pastime of the children."
---Sturtevant's Notes on Edible Plants, edited by U.P. Hedrick, Report of the New York Agricultural Experiment Station for the Year
1919 II [J.B. Lyon Company:Albany NY] 1919 (p. 21-22)

Chippewa
"The first and one of the most enjoyable events of the industrial year was the making of maple sugar. Each group of relatives or friends had its
own portion of the maple forest, known as it sugar bush. There the birch-bark utensils needed in making sugar were stored from year to
year in a small lodge, near the large lodge where the sap was boiled. The sap kettles were kept boiling all night and the season was a busy one for all
in the camp. The sap was boiled to a thick sirup, trained, replaced in the kettles, and heated slowly. When it had thickened to the
consistency it was transferred to a 'granulating trough,' where it was 'worked' with a paddle and with the hands until it was in the form of
granulated sugar. If 'hard sugar' as desired, the thick sirup was poured into little birch-bark cones, dishes, or other receptacles, including the upper mandible
of ducks' bills, which formed a favorite confection for children...Maple sugar was used in seasoning fruits, vegetables, cereals, and fish, being used more
freely than th white race uses salt. It was also eaten as a confection, and dissolved in cold water as a summer drink. it was frequently
mixed with medicine to make it palatable, especially for children."
---Chippewa Customs, Frances Densmore, Smithsonian Institution [Government Printing Office:Washington DC] 1929 (p. 123)

Compare with early 20th century maple sugaring techniques:
"Maple sugar and Maple syrup:are made from the sap of several varieties of the maple tree, native to the northern United States and
Canada...The sap is collected by 'tapping' the g\trees about three feet from the ground. The tap hole is bored about an inch
deep with a three-eighth inch bit; the spout is driven into this, and a covered tin sap-bucket is hung from the spout. it is the wood immediately under the
bark which gives the sap--the largest amount coming from the ring made by the growth of the tree during the preceding year. The
gathering season commences in spring, generally during the month of March, just as the winter is breaking up and the general rule is thawing
days and freezing nights. It ends when the trees begin to bud, as at that time the sap undergoes a change and the sugar content
decreases. The percentage of sugar varies from 1% to 4%, being affected by many circumstances--the variety of the tree, its location, the
character of the soil, climate, etc. There are usually three or four 'runs' during a good season and the first is generally the sweetest,
averaging then from 3% to 4% of sugar. Each succeeding run is generally less sweet and in consequence the product is of a darker
color because of the longer boiling required. The quantity of sap depends to a great extent on the growth of the tree during the
preceding summer and upon the weather conditions during the tapping season. Under good conditions, a tree large enough for
two spouts will yield enough to produce three or four quarts of syrup or six or seven pounds of sugar. After its receipt at the sugar
house, the sap is evaporated in sap-pans and syrup pans to a syrup. For Maple Syrup, this product is starined, filtered and clarified by
the addition of milk, cream or egg white and is then ready for the market. Maple Sugar is made by condensing the syrup until of the proper
consistence. It is then stirred and 'grained' and poured into molds or tin pails and allowed to cool...Maple Sugar makingnow and Maple Sugar
making as it used to be, are very different things--what the industry has gained in facility, it has lost in picturesqueness. The
old style camp with its primitive applicees is no more. The kettle was long ago suspended by the 'pan' and the latter again by
an evaporator, and the trough has become a mass of crumbling decay. The women and children are kept at home and no longer know the old-time
delights of 'sugaring off,'...But to-day everything is 'improved.' In place of a hut of logs is a permanent sugar-house, furnished
with many elaborate devices to prevent waste and deterioration...A scoop or ladle is as anachronistic as a javelin!"
---The Grocer's Encyclopedia, Artemas Ward [National Grocer:New York] 1911 (p. 364-365)

"Turbinado sugar:
This sugar is raw sugar which has been partially processed, where only the surface molasses has been washed off. It has a
blond color and mild brown sugar flavor, and is often used in tea and other beverages.Brown sugar (light and dark):
Brown sugar retains some of the surface molasses syrup, which imparts a characteristic pleasurable flavor. Dark brown
sugar has a deeper color and stronger molasses flavor than light brown sugar. Lighter types are generally used in baking
and making butterscotch, condiments and glazes. The rich, full flavor of dark brown sugar makes it good for gingerbread,
mincemeat, baked beans, and other full flavored foods.
Brown sugar tends to clump because it contains more moisture than white sugar.Muscovado or Barbados sugar:
Muscovado sugar, a British specialty brown sugar, is very dark brown and has a particularly strong molasses flavor. The
crystals are slightly coarser and stickier in texture than “regular” brown sugar.Free-flowing brown sugars:
These sugars are specialty products produced by a co-crystallization process. The process yields fine, powder-like brown
sugar that is less moist than “regular” brown sugar. Since it is less moist, it does not clump and is free-flowing like
white sugar.Demerara sugar:
Popular in England, Demerara sugar is a light brown sugar with large golden crystals, which are slightly sticky from the
adhering molasses. It is often used in tea, coffee, or on top of hot cereals."
---Sugar Association

How available was brown sugar in 19th century America?
These notes from 1807/Philly market lists three types:
"...it would be useful to review the various grades of whole-sale sugar as they were designated in Pennsylvania during the nineteenth century. The following list is
taken from Hope's Philadelphia Price-Current for October 5, 1807:
Havana white
Havana brown (like Brasilian Demarara)
Muscovado 1st quality
Muscovado 2nd quality
Muscovado ordinary
West India clayed white
West India clayed brown
Calcutta white
Batavia white
Of these, ordinary muscovado was the cheapest, just about half the cost of Havana white, the most expensive sugar then available and the one most like the white
granulated sugar of today. Cheap, black, sticky moscovado or brown Demarara-type sugars were the most common table sugars used by the Pennsylvania Dutch.
Like molasses, moscovado sugar was always in great demand, even in the eighteenth century, for it was one of the first sugars to be advertised in the Philadelphia
America Weekly Mercury of 1719. Regardless of grade, sugar was imported in large cones or loaves...Once the loaves of sugar reached the United States, they
were usually purged or refined again and converted into smaller loaves for retail sale and wrapped in blue paper to preserve the whiteness. In spite of this
precaution, none of the retail loaf sugar was usable until it was boiled again in water to remove insects and other extraneous material. This irksome process involved
egg whites, charcoal, and constant skimming. The syrup was then strained thorugh a cloth bag until clear, returned to the fire, and boiled down."
---Sauerkraut Yankees: Pennsylvania Dutch Foods and Foodways, William Woys Weaver, 2nd edition [Stackpole Books:Mechanicsburg PA] 2002 (p. 152-4)

The recipe below confirms brown sugar (no description, though) was available in the Midwest (Wisconsin) during the 1840s. We did not find any period/place
specific advertisements for brown sugar. We cannot tell if this item was commonly available or the provenance of wealthy families who could afford to purchase
expensive goods from larger markets. Neither can we tell what is meant here by "ordinary."

"Ordinary brown sugar may be used, a larger portion of which is retained in the syrup."
---"Recipe for Making Tomato Figs," Wisconsin Democrat, September 28, 1843 (p. 3)

Food historians tell us powdered sugars were used by European confectioners as early as the 18th
century. Technological advances in the 19th century made them available to a wider audience. It
is no coincidence that cake icing appeared during this time:
About sugar grades & processing

Corn syrup chemistry & variations
"In the language of corn refining, once the starch matrix has been separated from its protein gluten, the starch is converted by
chemical action (an acid or enzymes, or both, are added to starch suspended in water) into "simple" sugar, called a "low-dextrose
solution." Sweeteners and tecture (crystal or syrup) are controllled at every point to produce different products, depending upon how much
starch is digested by the acid or enzyme...By the same initial process through which the Hopi made
"virgin hash," our modern corn refiners make glucose, maltose, dextrose and fructose. The larger the number of these long glucose chains
in the molecule, the more viscous the syrup, a quality important to the baking and candy industries because it prevents
graininess and crystallization. Without corn syrup, no easy-to-make chocolate fudge. The more complete the digestion of starch,
the sweeter the syrup, because the rate of glucose and maltose is higher. Maltose is a "double unit" sugar produced, as in brewing,
by enzyme-manipulated starch. By manipulating the glucose unites
with an enzyme derived form...Streptomyces bacteria, the refiner can get a supersweet fructose called High Fructose Corn
Syrup (HFCS). Today, this is where the king's share of cornstarch goes, becasue this syrup is the sweetener of choice...for the
soft drink, ice cream and frozen dessert industries. Although supersweet fructose tastes about twice as sweet as ordinary sugar, we do not as
a result consume half as many soft drinks or ice cream cones. On the contrary, American sweetness consumption spirals ever
upward..."The family of corn syrups includes hyrdol, or corn sugar molasses, a dark, viscous syrup useful in animal feed and in drugs;
lactic acid, a colorless syrup useful as a preservative and flavorer for everything from pickles to mayonnaise; and sorbitol
(dextrose plus hydrogen), and emulsifier that shows up in toothpaste and detergents as well as processed edibles."
---The Story of Corn, Betty Fussell [North Point Press:New York] 1992 (p 272)

Origins & evolution
"Gottlieb Sigismund Kirchhof accidentally discovered that sweet substances could be prepared from starch while working at the Acadmey of Science, St. Petersbug,
Russia, during the Napoleonic Wars. Kirchhof needed gum arabic for use in manufacturing porcelain. No gum arabic was available because of the continental
blockade imposed by the British at that time. However, a Frenchman, Bouitton-Lagrange, had reported that dry starch, when heated, acquires some of the properties
of the vegetable gums. Kirchhof attempted to make a substitute gum arabic from starch by adding some water and acid before heating. As a result, instead of a gummy
substance, he obtained a sweet-tasting sirup and a small amount of crystallized sugar (dextrose), a finding he reported in 1811. Because of the extreme shortage of sugar
in Eruope at the time, the discovery attracted immediate notice in scientific and commercial circles. Starch, largely obtained from potatoes, was already being manufactured
in a number of countries in Europe. With this supply of raw material available, numerous small factories were erected to convert starch to either sirup or sugar. Means
were soon discovered by which either sirup or sugar could be obtained as desired. The fact that neither beet sugar nor any other acceptable substitute for imported can
sugar had as yet become available encouraged the development of starch sweeteners. However, the new industry, after the defeat of Napoleon and the lifting of the
blockade, declined almost as rapidly as it had grown. Sugar became very cheap for a while...Few statistics are available concerning the early operation of the starch
sweetener industry in Euope. But 11 million pounds of dextrose were reported to have been produced from potato starch in France in 1855 and about 44 million
pounds in Germany in 1874...Starch sweetener production developed more slowly in the United States than in Europe, since there was no sugar shortage
here early in the 19th century. A small factory near Philadelphia processed potato starch in 1831-1832. The next plant established in this country to make dextrose
from cornstarch was in New York City in 1864."History of Sugar Marketing Through 1974, US Dept. of Agriculture (p. 7-8)

[1916]
"Corn syrup. This is a product of clear but thick, syrupy consistency which is derived from corn, as the name implies. It is
commonly called 'glucose' among the [confectioners] trade, but this name is rapidly dying out due to the constant effort of the authorities
to discontinue the name 'glucose' because of the unfounded associations people have connected with the purity and wholesomeness of
this prodouct. In all formulas contained in this book the however mention is made, the term 'corn syrup' is use instead of 'glucose.' Corn syrup is
sometimes used in candy because it is cheaper than sugar, but that is not the only reason for using it. In a great many cases it
is essentially used as a 'doctor' to prevent a batch from graining or returning to sugar. It performs a purpose parallel to that of
cream of tartar, but as corn syrup is cheaper to use than cream of tartar and does not require such extacting attention in the batch,
it is use oftener as a 'doctor' than cream of tartar. Corn syrup good stand up better than cream of tartar goods; hence the more common
use of corn syrup in candies intended for wholesale business. Some pieces cannot be made without corn syrup, as, for instance,
caramels and fudges. Honey was formerly used in place of corn syrup in making caramels but it was very expensive to use, and allowed
the batch to grain unless extreme care was taken. Like all materials the batch to grain unless extreme care was taken. Like all
materials, there are different grades of corn syrup, depending on the grade of corn used in making the finished product. Corn syrup
should be used less in the summer than in the winter as it tends to make goods sticky."
---Rigby's Reliable Candy Teacher, W. O. Rigby, 19th edition [1916?] (p. 16)

Karo brand corn syrup
The most famous corn syrup in the USA is Karo brand, introduced by the Corn Products Refining Company in 1902. History
here.

"Corn syrup. A sweet, thick liquid derived from cornstarch treated with acids or enzymes and used
to sweeten and thicken candy, syrups, and snack foods. By far the most popular and best-known
corn syrup is Karo, introduced in 1902 by Corn Products Company of Edgewater, New Jersey.
The name "karo" may have been in honor of the inventor's wife, Caroline, or, some say, derivative
of an earlier trademark for table syrup, "Karomel." So common is the use of Karo in making pecan
pie that the confection is often called "Karo pie" in the South."
---Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New York] 1999
(p. 98)

A more technical definition:
"High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS)—A corn sweetener derived from the wet milling of corn. Cornstarch is converted to a syrup that is nearly all dextrose. Enzymes isomerize the dextrose to produce a 42 percent fructose syrup called HFCS-42. By passing HFCS-42 through an ion-exchange column that retains fructose, corn refiners draw off 90 percent HFCS and blend it with HFCS-42 to make a third syrup, HFCS-55. HFCS is found in numerous foods and beverages on the grocery store shelves. HFCS-90 is used in natural and "light" foods in which very little is needed to provide sweetness. (ERS, USDA). Total fiber is the sum of dietary fiber and functional fiber.

Savvy chocolate makers were keenly aware of
the volatile nature of raw product availability and seasonal production. They routinely repurposed cocoa grinders to accomodate
a variety of specialized goods, including spices and mustard. We can only imagine how these other flavors effected the
flavor of the chocolate they produced.

"American consumers were probably savvier about their chocolate in the 18th century than they are in the modern world. Colonial chocolate makers routinely
advertised the geographic sources of their cocoa, much like modern coffee vendors do for their coffee beans...Because of high transportation costs and excessive
import duties on cocoa, Euroepan chocolate was both expensive and exclusive. It was a beverage for the elite and demand was relatively low...In North America,
by contrast, chocolate was more available at cheaper prices and consumed by a wider variety of people. The quantity of domestically produced chocolate was
sufficient enough to give it away to the poor. The Almshouses of Philadelphia and New York regularly provided chocolate and sugar to its needy residents,
something that did not happen in England for the fear of indulging the poor...American chocolate makers routinely advertised chocolate for sale in newspapers
throughout the 18th century. Approximately 70 commerical chocolate makers have been identified from these sources...American chocolate manufacturers were
concentrated in four major production centers: Boston, Philadelphia, New York City, and Newport (Rhode Island). Since these locations regularly were engaged in
the trade with the West Indies, it is logical that the domestic chocolate production also occurred here."
---Chocolate: History, Culture, and Heritage, Louis Evan Grivetti and Howard-Yana Shapiro editors [John Wiley & Sons:Hoboken NJ] 2009 (p. 284-285)

Colonial American chocolate industry
"Another feature of American chocolate was that is was primarily machine-made and purchased in stores. Chocolate histories written from a European perspective
generally ignore American manufacturing methods. American newspaper advertisement...provide insight regarding chocolate-making equipment and the chocolate
makers themselves. Since there were no monopolies or manufacturing guilds, there were no barriers to entry into the chocolate trade other than capital formation
and access to cocoa. American manufactuirng equipment was generally homemade and varied from foot-powered mills capable of producing small quantities to
watermills capable of producing several thousand pounds a day. Likewise, there were no patent restrictions...Some chocolate makers also produced other
commodities at the same time. The cocoa trade was tenuous...especailly during wartime. Chocolate makers could ill afford disruption in a steady supply of cooa
unless they were diverisfied into other commodities. Besides chocolate, chocolate makers commonly ground coffee, oats, spices, mustard, and even tobacco."
---Chocolate: History, Culture, and Heritage (p. 293)

How was it made?
"Chocolate making was hard work. The labor at times intense and at other times tedious...Whether roasting and shelling hundreds of pounds of cocoa at a time, or
walking on a treadmill for hours, or hand-grinding ten pounds of chocolate a day for the Master, the work was mind numbing. And those working in large
watermills also had their trials. If the order was for a ton of chocolate for a ship sailing on the next high tide, then well over a ton of cooca would have had to hae
ben manhadled onto cards, roasted, shelled, winnowed, taken to the hopper, ground up, mixed and molded, wrapped in paper, packaged into perhaps 50 pound
boxes, and loaded onto cars. This in an age where most of that labor would have been done by hand, sun up to sun down. Chocolate generally was not
manufactured in the summer because higher temperatures did not allow the chocolate to harden...Therefore, chocolate-making activities started in the fall and ended
in late spring."
---Chocolate: History, Culture, and Heritage (p. 293)

Bakers
(est. 1765, Massachusetts) was named for Dr. James Baker. Original product was meant for drinking. The fact that Baker
later produced chocolate used for baking (unsweetened at first)was a happy coincidence.
1828 marks the birth of modern chocolate. This new process made possible a broad
range of chocolate products. Among them: cocoa, blocks, nibs, shells. Baker sells eating chocolate in 1845.

A cheap vanilla chocolate (wholesale)
35 pounds sugar
17 pounds corn syrup
1 1/2 gallons water Cook to 238 degrees; pour on dampened cream slab and when lukewarm stir into a creamy
consistency.
Now take:
20 pounds sugar
10 pounds corn syrup
3 quarts water
Cook to 238 degrees, then remove from the fire and add the first batch which has been creamed.
When the batches are thoroughly mixed, add 5 pounds of Mazetta Creme and 2 ounces of extract
of vanilla. When well mixed, set entire batch over a steam bath and get quite hot, then cast in
starch and when set dip in chocolate. You may make any flavor desired by blending flavor when
the Mazetta Creme is added."
---Rigby's Reliable Candy Teacher, W. O. Rigby, 19th edition [1916?] (p. 98)

So what exactly IS white chocolate? U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently defined this
product and set forth standards for its
manufacture. They can be found in 21 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Section
163.124:

"Sec. 163.124 White chocolate. (a) Description. (1) White chocolate is the solid or semiplastic
food prepared by intimately mixing and grinding cacao fat with one or more of the optional dairy
ingredients specified in paragraph (b)(2) of this section and one or more optional nutritive
carbohydrate sweeteners and may contain one or more of the other optional ingredients specified
in paragraph (b) of this section. White chocolate shall be free of coloring material. (2) White
chocolate contains not less than 20 percent by weight of cacao fat as calculated by subtracting
from the weight of the total fat the weight of the milkfat, dividing the result by the weight of the
finished white chocolate, [[Page 62178]] and multiplying the quotient by 100. The finished white
chocolate contains not less than 3.5 percent by weight of milkfat and not less than 14 percent by
weight of total milk solids, calculated by using only those dairy ingredients specified in paragraph
(b)(2) of this section, and not more than 55 percent by weight nutritive carbohydrate sweetener.
(b) Optional ingredients. The following safe and suitable ingredients may be used: (1) Nutritive
carbohydrate sweeteners; (2) Dairy ingredients: (i) Cream, milkfat, butter; (ii) Milk, dry whole
milk, concentrated milk, evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk; (iii) Skim milk,
concentrated skim milk, evaporated skim milk, sweetened condensed skim milk, nonfat dry milk;
(iv) Concentrated buttermilk, dried buttermilk; and (v) Malted milk; (3) Emulsifying agents, used
singly or in combination, the total amount of which does not exceed 1.5 percent by weight; (4)
Spices, natural and artificial flavorings, ground whole nut meats, ground coffee, dried malted
cereal extract, salt, and other seasonings that do not either singly or in combination impart a
flavor that imitates the flavor of chocolate, milk, or butter; (5) Antioxidants; and (6) Whey or
whey products, the total amount of which does not exceed 5 percent by weight. (c)
Nomenclature. The name of the food is ``white chocolate'' or ``white chocolate coating.'' When
one or more of the spices, flavorings, or seasonings specified in paragraph (b)(4) of this section
are used, the label shall bear an appropriate statement, e.g., ``Spice added'', ``Flavored with ------
'', or ``With ------ added'', the blank being filled in with the common or usual name of the spice,
flavoring, or seasoning used, in accordance with Sec. 101.22 of this chapter. (d) Label
declaration. Each of the ingredients used in the food shall be declared on the label as required by
the applicable sections of parts 101 and 130 of this chapter. Dated: September 27, 2002. Margaret
M. Dotzel, Associate Commissioner for Policy. [FR Doc. 02-25252 Filed 10-3-02; 8:45 am]"
[NOTE: This excerpted from White
Chocolate; Establishment of a Standard of Identity, Federal
Register, October 4, 2002.]

About white chocolate & the 1980s:
"So called "white chocolate" is made out to cacao butter only, but in the United States it must be
called "White confectionery coating," since it contains no cacao solids and therefore does not fit
the legal requirements for "chocolate." It has the disadvantage of a relatively short shelf-life and a
tendency to pick up foreign flavors."
---The True History of Chocolate, Sophie D. Coe and Michael D. Coe [Thames and
Hudson:New
York] 1996 (p. 29)
[NOTE: this book is THE definative history of chocolate. Ask your librarian to help
you find a copy]

The Oxford English Dictionary states "brittle," in the confectionery sense, is an American term
dating in print to 1892.
Our survey of historic American cookbooks confirms recipes for peanut brittle (as we know it today)
appear in 19th century. Early recipes and ingredients were known by different names. One
must examine these recipes carefully with regards to ingredients and method to
determine the finished product. Back in the day, peanuts were called groundnuts.

Early peanut brittle recipes

[1847]
"An Excellent Receipt for Groundnut Candy
To one quart or molasses add half a pint of brown sugar and a quarter of a pound of butter; boil it
for half an hour over a slow fire; then put in a quart of groundnuts, parched and shelled; boil for a
quarter of an hour, and then pour it into a shallow tin pan to harden."
---The Carolina Housewife, Sarah Rutledge, facsimile copy 1847 edition, with an
introduction by Anna Wells Rutledge [University of South Carolina Press:Columbia] 1979 (p.
219)

[1908]
"Peanut candy.
Have ready one cupful of peanuts shelled and chopped. Be sure you are rid of all the
brown skins. Put one cupful of white sugar in a hot iron frying plan and stir until it is
dissolved. Add the peanuts and turn immediately. As it cools cut into squares."
---The Evening Telegram Cook Book, Emma Paddock Telford [Cupples &
Leon:New york] 1908 (p. 157)

[1919]
"Peanut brittle.
5 pounds sugar
2 1/2 pounds corn syrup
1 1/2 pints water
Cook and boil and then add 3 pounds Spanish shelled peanuts, and stir and cook until
peanuts are done, then set kettle off fire and stir in it 1/2 teaspoonful of baking soda.
After the soda is well stirred, drop in a little more soda, about 1/4 teaspoonful, and stir
good. Pour on the slab and spread as thin as possible. When partly cold turn batch
over. By adding soda as above batch will be the same color on both sides, not yellow
on one side and brow on the other."
---Rigby's Reliable Candy Teacher, W. O. Rigby, 19th ed., [1919?] (p. 160-1)
[NOTE: this book also contains a recipe for non-sugar peanut brittle. This is not a
diabetic alternative. It substitutes corn syrup and molasses for refined white sugar.]

[1942]
"Peanut Brittle I
Sugar, 2 cups
Water, 2/3 cup
Cream of tartar, 1/4 teaspoon
Molasses, 2 tablespoons
Salt, 1/2 teaspoon
Cream, 2 tablspoons
Baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon
Peanuts, shelled, 1 cup
Combine sugar, water and cream of tartar in a heavy saucepan. Plce over low heat and stir until sugar is dissolved; cook
without stirring to 280 degrees F. (brittle). Wipe down crystals from sides of pan with a damp cloth wrapped around the tines of
a fork. Add molasses, salt and cream. Cook slwoly to 290 degrees F., stirring slowly but constantly. Remove from stove. Quickly stir
in soda and peanuts. (Be sure that soda is free from lumps. Pour onto an oiled surface--a shallow pan or marble slab--in a very
thin layer. When cool enough to handle, the brittle may be grasped at the edges and stretched into a very thin sheet. When cold break into
medium-sized pieces. Note: If peanuts are raw, add a sirup at 250 degrees F. instead of at the end. Makes about 1 pound."
---Woman's Home Companion Cook Book [P.F. Collier & Son:New York] 1942 (p. 788-789)
[NOTE: Peanut Brittle II consists of sugar, baking soda and peanuts only. This book also offers recipes for coconut brittle, Chocolate-Nut
Brittle and Bran-Nut Brittle.]

What kinds of candy did the first Americans eat? Native Americans in the northern regions were
adept at tapping maple trees for syrup. Chocolate began as a beverage. By the 1840s, eating chocolate was
introduced.
European settlers introduced the foods they enjoyed in the Old World. The following confections
were known in Medieval and Renaissance Europe:

How & where were these candies made?
"Confectionery was another art practiced by efficient housewives. It took several forms. Whole fruits or berries cooked and stored in syrup were called preserves.
Mashed, they became marmalade, conserve, or jam. "Dried" (that is, candied like modern crystallized fruit) they were
confections or
sweetmeats. When their juices
were mixed with syrup and reduced sufficiently to form hard candies, they were chips; when mashed pulp was used in the same way, they were called pastes.
Strained juices were also used to make jelly, as in modern practice, and there were fruit and berry syrups. Brandied fruits were prepared by adding brandy to the
syrup in which whole fruits were stored. Mrs. Randolph's selection of recipes, reflecting Virginia tastes at the end of the [18th] century, emphasized preserves--
peaches, pears, quinces, cherries, strawberries, gooseberries, raspberries, and sweet tomato marmalade. Her preserving kettle was made of bell metal, "flat at the
bottom, very large in diameter, but not deep," with a tight-fitting cover and "handles at the sides of the pan, for taking it off with ease wthen the syrup boils too fast."
Other desirable equipment included a large chafing dish with long legs "for the convenience of moving it to any part of the room," a ladle "the size of a saucer,
pierced and having a long handle" for "taking up the fruit without syrup," small glasses or pots of a maximum two-pound capacity, and "letter paper wet with brandy"
to cover the containers...Mrs. Custis' "Book of Sweetmeats" reflected the elegance and artificiality of tastes in Queen Anne's court. In addition to the conventional
preserves, she included the more elaborate confectionery that usued flowers and herbs, roots and nuts as well as fruits and berries in a variety of crystallized
preparations and hard candies to decorate dessert tables...Walnuts and almonds, eryngo and ginger roots, angelica stalks and roots, and marjoram and mint leaves
were sometimes crystallized. Mrs. Custis also chopped or mashed them and stirred them into a manus Christi syrup, which was dripped into "rock candies" or
"cakes" about the size of a sixpence. Fruit juices carefully strained produced clear drops and cakes. The pulp of fruits and berries, treated like almond paste in
marchpane, made pastes in a great variety of flavors and colors: apricots, peaches, pears, plums, quinces, pippins, raspberries, gooseberries, barberries, cherries,
oranges, lemons. Even more decorative was Paste Royall, printed in molds and then gilded."
---Colonial Virginia Cookery, Jane Carson [Colonial Williamsburg Foundation:Williamsburg VA] 1985 (p. 120-122)

"Candied Peel
Cut rind of 8 oranges into quarters. Cover with cold water. Brink slowly to the boiling point. Remove pan from fire. Drain well. Repat this process, boiling the
orange peel in a total of 5 waters. Drain well each time. With scissors, cut into strips or leaf designs. Make a syrup with 1/4 cut water and 1/2 cup sugar. Add the
peel and boil until all the syrup is absorbed. Cool briefly. When thorouhgly dry, the peel may be dipped in chcoolate coating. Peel may also be rolled in freshly
grated coconut, then sugared. Store in airtight tins, or freeze."
---ibid (p. 115) [New Jersey]

"Apricot Leather
Wash 1 package dried apricots and put them in water to soak overnight. Next morning, bring apricots and water to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove
from heat and drain thoroughly. (Be sure all the water has drained off.) mash the apricots through a sieve, or belnd in a blender until smooth. Measure pulp: return it
to the saucepan and add 1 part sugar to every 3 parts pulp. Bring to a boil and boil for 2 minutes, stirring constantly (at thsis tage the mixture may burn easily, so
stir carefully.) Let the mixture cool for 15 minutes; then spread almost paper thin on a large piece of glass, marble slab, or aluminum cookie sheet. Form a
rectangular shape. Place in a warm dry room (an attic is excellent) to dry for 1 to 2 days (it should be pliable enough to roll). Cut the leather into 3-inch squares,
sprinkle with granulated sugar, and roll tightly into rolls about the size of a small pencil. Roll in granulated sugar and stroe in a tightly closed box."
---ibid (p. 251) [Georgia]

"Hoarhound Candy
Some of the candies which were made in colonial kitchens were very simple mixtures of sugar, water, and herbs. This candy was a confection as well as a lozenge
for colds and sore throats.
3 ounces hoarhound
3 cups water
3 1/2 pounds brown sugar
Add hoarhound to hot water and simmmer for 20 minutes. Stain and add sugar. Cook until syrup forms a hard ball when dropped into cold water or until candy
thermometer registers 265 degrees F. Pour into a buttered pan. When cooled, form into small balls or cut into squares. makes about 5 sozen pieces."
---Foods from the Founding Fathers, Helen Newbury Burke [Exposition Press:Hicksville NY] 1978 (p. 141) [Rhode Island]

Chocolate trufflesChocolate is a "New World" food originating in South America. It
was first
consumed in liquid form by the Ancient Mayans and Aztecs. Spanish explorers introduced
chocolate to
Europe, where it was likewise appreciated and esteemed. Chocolate candy made its debut in the
middle of
the 19th century (Cadbury). At that time, it was very expensive and out of the reach of most
people. The
Industrial Revolution enabled the chocolate industry to grow and flourish. By the end of the 19th
century
chocolate was enjoyed by "the masses" (Hershey). Cream candies ultimately trace their roots to
Medieval
and Renaissance soft cream fillings used to compose trifle and fill pastries. Later developments
included
creme brulee and caramel cream. Chocolate-coated
cream candies of all kinds were extremely
popular in
the late 19th/early 20th centuries.

According to the food historians, chocolate truffles were named thusly because the finished
product
resembles the naturally occuring, expensive fungus of the same name. About fungus truffles. Alan Davidson's
Oxford Companion
to Food states this candy became popular in the 1920s.

"Many who have never encountered vegetable truffles have tucked into confectioners' truffles,
sweets the
colour and shape of black truffles, made from a mixture of chocolate, sugar, and cream (and often
rum)
and covered with a dusting of cocoa powder or tiny chocolate strands. These are, of course, a
much more
recent phenomenon; they made their first appearance in an Army and Navy Stores catalogue for
1926-7."
---An A-Z of Food and Drink, John Ayto [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2002 (p. 351)

While references to early 19th century chocolate truffles can be found in some books on American food history, it is unlikely
the confection, as we know it today, existed that early. Possibly these authors are referring to chocolate creams, a related confection.
The earliest authentic/historic recipe we have for chocolate truffles dates to the 1920s:

"Chocolate truffles. Dip a plain vanilla cream center, one as small as possible in milk chocolate
coating,
then before the coating dries, roll each piece in macaroon cocoanut so that the cocoanut sticks to
the
chocolate. Now lay them on a cheet of wax paper and allow to dry."
---Rigby's Reliable Candy Teacher, W.O. Rigby, 19th edition (undated, early 1920s probably) (p. 84)

[1894]Spun Sugar for Ornamental Purposes
--Required: loaf sugar and half its weight in water. The best cane sugar should be used, as failure
if almost sure with inferior sugar. This is to be put in a copper pan and brought to the boil, and
freed from any scum thay may rise. When the surface begins to look bubbly it is nearly ready. To
test it, dip a knife or the end of a steel in cold water, and be sure that it is cold, or a mistake may
arise; then dip this in the boiling sugar, then in cold water again, and if it is brittle, and leaves the
knife or steel, it is done; should it cling an be soft it must be boiled longer. When it is done, take
small portions and pass it quickly to and fro to form threads over an oiled rolling pin held in the
left hand. A fork is best to use to take up the sugar. Should this be intended for "draping" a
vol-au-vent or other sweet, the pin should be moved, so that the sugar falls into position, and is
not
handled. To be explicit, as it leaves the pin it is wound round the sweet. There is considerable art
in this operation, and it is quite likely that a number of failures will precede success; it is one of
those branches of the cuisine that require a practical lesson. It is always well to rub a little oil on
the hands and wrists in the case the sugar should splash them, and by standing on a stool, holding
the left arm low, and moving the right hand high in the air, the work is facilitated."
---Cassell's New Universal Cookery Book, Lizzie Heritage [Cassell and
Company:London] (p. 811)

Cotton candy, as fair food, began when W.J. Morrison and J.C. Wharton (Nashville, TN)
patented the first electric machine for spinning sugar into edible threads in 1897. This machine
produced cotton candy quickly in mass quantities. The machine was portable, the process was
novel, the appeal was universal. Perfect fair food. Notes from the original patent:

Candy Machine
To all whom it may concern; Be it known that we, William J. Morrison and John C. Wharton,
citizens of the United States, residing at Nashville, in the County of Davidson and State of
Tennessee, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Candy-Machines, of which the
following is a specification. Our invention relates to improvements in candy-making, or, as
commonly called, "candy-machines," in which a revolvable or rotating pan or vessel containing
cand or melted sugar causes the said candy or melted sugar to form into masses of thread-like or
silk-like filaments by the centrifugal force due to the rotation of the vessel. The object of our
invention is to obtain an edible product consisting of the said filaments of melted and "spun" sugar
or candy."
---U.S. Patent #618,428 January 31, 1899. Application filed December 23, 1897.
[NOTE: you can view the full image of this patent online. Accessible by patent number only,
requires special viewing software.]

Sugar Candy, Pink and White
Sugar candy is made in a variety of colours. The foreign, which is imported in large quantities,
varying in shades between very dark brown and pale yellow, the prices charged for these qualities
being very little above the sugar value, therefore unprofitable to make, but the pink and white
candy is not so common, and generally command a renumerative figure, besides being attractive
as a window decoration. The process is simple and interesting. Copper pans are sold by
machinists for the purpose, but for small makers a rough coller or white metal pan will answer, so
long as its sides are a little wider at the top than the bottom, in order that the crystalized sugar
may
fall out unbroken. Perforate the pan with small holes, about three inches apart, pass a thread
through from one hole to another, so that the thread runs at equal distances throughout the
centre of
the pan, then stop up the holes from the outside with a thin coating of beeswax and resin to keep
the syrup from running through. When the pan has been got ready, boil sufficient sugar to fill it, in
the proportion of 7-lbs. sugar to 3 pints of water, to the degree of thread, or 230; then pour the
contents into the pan and stand it on the drying room for three or four days; when the crystals are
heavy enough, which you can tell by examining them, pour off the superfluous syrup; rinse the
candy in lukewarm water and stand it in the drying room till dry. To make the pink, of course,
colour the syrup, but be careful in tinging it very lightly. N.B.-When goods are undergoing the
process of crystalizing, the vessel in which they are must not be disturbed."

In the dawning years of the 20th century cotton candy was also sold in sweet shops and
department
store candy counters. A Wanamaker's advertisement announcing the acquisition of "A
Wonderful Candy Machine" ran in the New York Times February 11, 1905 (p.4). Price of
their
cotton candy? 5-10 cents, probably depending upon size.

Bruce Feiler's notes debunking the popular history of cotton candy:

"The Dictionary of American Food and Drink reports that the item [cotton candy]
originated in 1900 at the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Baily Circus, when snack vendor Thomas
Patton began experimenting with the long common process of boiling sugar to a caramelized
state, then forming long threads of it with a fork. Patton's genious, according to the entry, was to
heat the sugar on a gas-fired rotating plate, creating a cottony floss. The truth may be less
romantic, but it is no less appealing. In 1897 William Morrison and John
C. Wharton, candy makers in Nashville, invented the world's first electric machine that allowed
crystallized sugar to be poured onto a heated spinning plate, then pushed by centrifugal force
through a series of tiny holes. In 1904, at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, commonly known as
the St. Louis World's Fair, Morrison and Wharton sold the product, then known as "fairy floss,"
in chipped-wood [cardboard] boxes for 25 cents a serving. Though the price was half the
admission of the fair itself, they sold 68,655 boxes..."
---"Spun Heaven," Bruce Feiler, Gourmet, February 2000 (p. 66+)
[NOTE: this is an excellent article. Ask your librarian to help you find a copy.]

Cotton candy: notes from the
National Confectioners Association (includes how cotton candy is made today. If you need more
details about the manufacturing process ask your librarian to help you find this book:
How Products are Made, Jacqueline L. Longe, editor, Volume 4 [Gale:Detroit] 1999 (p.
157-161).

Food historians have yet to determine the first person to call this delicious confection "Divinity. "
The general concensus about the name? The finished product tasted "divine." A survey of
American cookbooks confirms recipes for Divinity (candy, fudge, rolls) were "standard items"
from the 1930s to present. Some people connect Divinity with southern roots. This is not
confirmed by our cooking texts which are published all over the country. Perhaps Divinity with
pecans is a Southern twist on a national favorite?

This is what the food experts have to say:

"Divinity. An American confection related to nougat and marshmallow. It is made by cooking a
sugar syrup to the firm or hard-ball stage...and then beating it into whisked egg whites."
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p.
251)

"Divinity...also divinity fudge [Prob with ref to its "divine" flavor] esp. west of Appalachians.
Homemade candy made by pouring hot sugar syrup into beaten egg whites. 1913 E.H. Glover
Dame Curtsey's Book of Candy Making (p. 34) Divinity Fudge. Three and one-half cups
of granulated sugar, one-half cup of 90 per cent corn syrup, two thirds cup water [etc.]"
---Dictionary of American Regional English, Frederick G. Cassidy and Joan Houston Hall,
editors, [Belknap Press of Harvard University:Cambridge MA] 1985, volume II D-H (p. 91)
[NOTE: This book has a map showing where this particular term is most popular. Your librarian
can help you find a copy of this book/page if you need it.]

Why does Divinity sometimes choose not to set?
"Divinity is a tricky confection to make under the best circumstances--almost impossible under less than good. The recipe in one community cookbook advises a short consultation with the local meteorologist: "Please remember candy doesn't set unless the barometer reads 30 in. or over; doesn't make a difference whether it's raining or not, just watch your t.v. for the barometric pressure." Divinity like most other Southern canides shows up around the winter holidays. It is sort of a companion piece to fudge in Christmas gift boxes.
---Biscuits, Spoonbread, and Sweet Potato Pie, Bill Neal [Alfred A. Knopf:New York] 1996 (p. 138)

[1905]
"Divinity Candy. Mrs. C.C. Hall, Hollywood.--One pint golden drip syrup, one pint sweet milk one cup granulated sugar,
butter size of a walnut. Boil until a soft ball can be made. Remove from fire ahd whip until it is creamy, then pour over one-half
pound of shelled Califoania English walnuts."
---The Times Cookbook

[1907]
"In place of the time-honored "fudge," she may make the new "Divinity Fudge," a sweet that is no
more expensive, that takes but little more time, but that is far more delicious. Melt a cupful of
sugar in a saucepan; when melted, pour it into another saucepan in which there is already a cupful
of cold milk. Put this pan on the fire and cook slowly until the two have blended; then add two or
more cupfuls of granulated sugar, and one more cupful of cold milk, and reheat, cooking slowly
until it is of proper consistency to remove from the stove. At this time add a heaping teaspoonful
of butter and a cupful of finely chopped nut meats; beat the mixture with a large spoon until
almost cold, then spread it over buttered pans, and line for cutting, like fudge."
---"Christmas Cheer as Ever Calls on the Housewife for Sweets, Pies and All the Rest of the
Good Things of the Holidays," The New York Times, December 17, 1907 (p. SM5)

[1910]
"Divinity Fudge
Here is a recipe for Divinity Fudge, which is great:
2 cups sugar, 1/2 cup cup hot water, 1/2 cup corn syrup. Cook until it forms a soft ball when dropped in cold water. Have
ready, in a rather deep dish, the whites of 2 eggs beaten to a stiff froth (1 egg may be used, not so good). Pour the cooked
mixture over the whites of the eggs. Beat in the 1 cup walnuts. Beat until of a creamy consistency. Pour onto buttered pan. Cool, cut
in squares. Janice Meredith."
---"Divinity Fidge," Boston Daily Globe, April 28, 1910 (p. 11)

[1917]
"Divinity Fudge
Home candy economy seems on the increase, to judge from the requests that come to this column for recipes. M.A. wishes a recipe
for "divinity." One of the colored corn sirups, probably the best known, is used by many people, but plain glucose, which
costs a little less, makes a whiter candy. In making all candies I use a thermometer, because it saves time and attention and I
get more uniform results, but my neighbor, fortunately i this case, does not, so Mrs. Y. lets me use her recipe herewith:
"This requires two pans or kettles. In pan No. 1, put one cup of sugar and one-half cup of water. In pan NO. 2 put three cups
of sugar one one cup of corn sirup. Boil No. 1 until it spins a thread. Boil No. 2 until it forms a soft ball when dropped in water.
Beat No. 1 into the whites of two eggs, and as soon as No. 2 is done beat into the egg mixture. Beat on a platter about ten minutes,
or until creamy. Before it gets firm beat in a cup of pecan nuts and two teaspoons of vanilla. Beat until firm. Turn out on to a
cloth that has been wet in cold water and roll up into a loaf. When cool enough cit down into slices."
---"Tribune Cook Book," Jane Eddington, Chicago Daily Tribune, February 14, 1917 (p. 10)

Why won't divinity set in certain types of weather?
"Divinity is a tricky confection to make under the best circumstances--almost impossible under less than good. The recipe in one community cookbook advises a
short consultation with the local meteorologist: "Please remember candy doesn't set unless the barometer reads 30 in. or over; doesn't make a difference whether
it's raining or not, just watch your t.v. for the barometric pressure." Divinity like most other Southern candies shows up around the winter holidays. It is sort of a
companion piece to fudge in Christmas gift boxes."
---Biscuits, Spoonbread, and Sweet Potato Pie, Bill Neal [Alfred A. Knopf:New York] 1996 (p. 138)

"...it is probably in confectionery that liquorice has found its most extensive and attractive culinary
use. For this purpose, the extract from the roots is combined with sugar, water, gelatin, and flour
to give a malleable black or brown paste, which is tough and chewy. These attribute are used to
gread effect by manufactureres who mould it into pipes, cables, and long strips or 'bootlaces'; or
combine it with brighly coloured soft sugar paste to make liquorice allsorts. These sweets, very
popular in Britain, are of divers and striking appearance, mostly made of layers of black refined
liquorice combined in various ways with brightly coloured paste imitating marzipan. Some lumps
of liquorice rolled in coloured sugar vermicelli. Thanks to the liquorice in them, the flavour of
these sweets is more interesting than that of most cheap confectionery."
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davdison [OxforUniversity Press:Oxford] 1999 (p.
455)

Where did the name "Dolly Mixture" come from? The food historians are still looking for a
definative answer. There are several theories:

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, a dolly mixture is a "mixture of tiny coloured
sweets of various shapes." The earliest citation to print references using this term dates back
only to 1957. One of these books, Lore and Language of Schoolchildren, Iona Opie, states
"Other current sweet-shop favourites appear to be the same as thirty years ago, in fact bull's
eyes, jelly babies, and dolly mixture have entered schoolchild language as descriptive nouns."
(page 166). This dates the term dolly mixtures, as they relate to candy, back at least to the late
1920s.

Just below this entry is another definition for the word dolly: "Anglo-Indian [ad.Hindi
Dali]...A complimentary offering of fruit, flowers, vegetables, sweetmeats and the like
presented usually on one or more trays..." Perhaps this term, as it relates to candy, was
borrowed from traditions begun in British India?

Another argument supporting the possible connection to India is the word dal, or dahl. These
pulses (beans, peas, legumes) are one of the principal foods in the Indian subcontinent. Dal is
often composed of items of various sizes and colors, thus the possible connection (in looks
only) to the popular candy mix. You can find more information on Dal in the Oxford
Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p. 241) and
A
Historical Dictionary of Indian Food, K.Y. Achaya [Oxford University Press:Delhi] 1998 (p.
60).

Laura Mason, British confectionery history expert, says the connection between Indian dahl and
dolly mixtures is unlikely.

Plastic icing?
FoodTV's Ace of Cakes show features georgeous cakes draped with a substance they
call rolled fondant. This artful substance appears to descend from Australian cake decorating
traditions, where it was first known as "plastic icing." The earliest references we find to "rolled fondant" in American print appears in the early 1980s.

"In Australia, despite its varied immigrant population, the British cake remained dominant but not in any static and unchanging
form. The major change which has been noted in the British trade in the 1890s had its roots in an Australian enthusiasm for
sugarcraft and cake-decoration which began in the 1950s...The provided competition classes for decorated cakes and in this way
promoted experimentation. A distinctive new style developed. This was based on a change of material. Royal icing was demoted
from its pre-eminence as the standard material for covering and decorating all the more important cakes to a mere auxiliary
for piping. Two other substances to be used in conjuction with it became essential. For covering there was 'plastic icing,' a cold-mixed
alternative to cooked fondant icing, made with glucose, gelatine, glycerine and flavouring, in addition to icing sugar and water.
For modelling it was aversion of the ancient sugarpaste...I The Australian Book of Cake Decorating (1973), Bernice
Vercoe, one of the leaders of the movement from the 1950s onwards, wrote: 'We do not recommend royal icing for coverings as this
mixture is hard and brittle when dry and tends to crack and separate from the cake whe cut', but 'the English still use it'.
'In Australia royal icing is used for pipework only.' Plastic icing, on the other hand, 'remains soft to the bite for long and
indefinite periods'...It is also easier to use, being rolled out and draped and conformed to almost any shape; it does not have to
be smoothed on moist and allowed to set. The very considerable skill needed to achieve a fine, smooth surface even on regular
shapes with royal icing becomes redundant."
---Wedding Cakes and Cultural History, Simon R. Charsley [Routledge:New York] 1992 (p. 24-25)

More from Ms. Vercoe:
"Plastic icing. Gone are the days when the knife bent dangerously before piercing the cake and fear clutched the heart of the
'cutter', wondering if indded, dynamite would be a better substitute to break the cement-like covering strongly defying all
efforts to slice neatly. The plastic icing and other fondants used today are easily handled, and give a smooth, dull, satin-like
surface which is a delight upon which to work. This icing remains soft to the bite for long and indefinite periods and is use
mainly for covering 'special occasion' cakes of a denser nature, usually fruit cake. Plastic icing should never be used to cover a
sponge as there is insufficient stability in the cake to support it."
---Australian Book of Cake Decorating, Bernice Vercoe & Dorothy Evans [Paul Hamlyn:Sydney] 1973 (p. 11)
[NOTE: this book contains a recipe for Mixing Plastic Icing. If you would like a copy please let us know.]

"The [Wilton] school teaches the American, Lambeth and Australian styles of cake decorating. Classes also are given in chocolate artistry, pulled sugar, figure piping and cakes for catering.
The two-week basic cake-decorating course costs $500, while other courses range from three to five days and cost $150 to $300.
The American method--the decorating style first taught by Wilton --emphasizes buttercream, shell borders, swags and piped icing flowers. Australian techniques include rolled fondant coatings,
lace work and royal icing flowers, while the Lambeth, or continental, method uses ornate layers of piped-on icing for its rococo effects."
---"Cake Decorating School Remains at Core of Expanded Wilton Enterprises," Phyllis Magida, Chicago Tribune, Apr 30, 1987 (p. 4)

Fondant Icing To Cover 1lb. Cake
Sift 3 lb. of icing sugar into bowl. Add 2 egg whites, 2 tablespoons glycerine 1/2 lb softened glucose. Beat with a wooden spoon until a stiff mixtuer. Turn out on board sifted with icing
sugar. Knead until a workable paste and quite smooth. Colour if desired. Flavour with a few drips of almond or lemon essence. Stand over night. When covered and set decorate
lightly with Royal Icing...

"With the exception of the citrus group, most fruits dry extremely well if left out in the hot sun and
dry air. The natural sugars in fruit are concentrated when moisture is removed. This made dried fruit
particularly attractive when sugar was not known and honey, then the most commonly used
sweetener, was not easily available. Originally fruits were dried until they had a hard, desiccated
surface, which acted as a valuable deterrent to insects, molds, and other sources of decay...We know
that the ancient Greeks loved to eat mashed dried figs mixed with honey and nuts with cups of strong
sweet wine...Traditionally they are washed with seawater and dried on the ground in the hot sun.
Dates, rich in energy-giving sugar, were regarded by many ancient cultures as sacred. They dry
perfectly in the desert sun and can be eaten fresh, fried, or ground into meal to make cakes. The
Romans also loved to eat chewy dried foods. They grew to many varieties that Lucius Columella,
the first-century author of De Re Rustica, declared they were too numerous to catalog...But in cooler,
wetter England, the climate made sun-drying fruit so difficult that indoor drying with ovens or fires
was the only alternative. Apples...pears, and plums, could be dried whole over a period of days in
cooling bread ovens, but handling them too much meant they burst of split before they were dry.
Instead, apples were most commonly sliced in rings, threaded onto strings, and then hung up in the
kitchen or dried on the stillroom stove."
---Pickled, Potted and Canned: How the Art and Science of Food Preserving Changed the World,
Sue Shephard [Simon & Schuster:New York] 2000 (p. 40-42)

"Ripe soft fruits were lesss easy to candy whole. A recipe of 1587 told how to preserve all kind of
fruits, 'that they shall not break in the preserving of them' by laying them between layers of sugar on
a flat platter, coving them with a dish, and steaming them over a boiling pot. Later it was more usual
to boil the fruits briefly in sugar syrup, and then reduce the latter to a thick consistency before
pouring it over them in glass or stoneware jars...Candied fruits, together with other dry and wet
sweetmeats, were set ont in little dishes at the banquet of Tudor and Stuart days, and thereafter were
eaten as dessert at the end of the second course. They were also offered as refreshments to callers
at other times of day. The dry sweetmeats included thick peach or quince marmelades divided into
separate lumps, punted with moulds and sugared; pastes of fruit juice and sugar, similarly printed;
and dandied fruit chips. Stiff jellies were made from strawberries, raspberries or mulberries crushed
in a mortar with sugar, boiled with water, rosewater and isinglass and sieved. They were boxed and
would keep all year."
---Food and Drink in Britain From the Stone Age to the 19th Century, C. Anne Wilson [Academy
Chicago:Chicago IL] 1991 (p. 353-4)

"Apricot leather and Turkish delight are among the fruit pastes that have survived into modern
confectionery, especially in Europe, where they are more popular. Except for slight differences in
technique involved with varying fruits, the recipes differ little...In English and French cookbooks,
Genoa is often credited with recipes for fruit paste. Actually, they were much older; the Arabs, and
the Persians before them, had been making them for centuries. In Europe, however, Italy early
became preeminent in pastry and confectionery and quite likely confectioners came to England from
Genoa, bringing the art with them. (The Arabs first brought the art of working sugar to Spain); one
may speculate that early refugees from the Inquisition, who are known to have fled to Genoa, may
have been responsible for this center."
---Martha Washington's Booke of Cookery and Booke of Sweetmeats, transcribed by Karen Hess
[Columbia University Press:New York] 1981 (p. 294, 296)

Historic dried fruit/fruit leather recipes:

[1653]
"Dry Apricots.
Drain them, and turn them into ears, or in round, then bestrew them with sugar in powder, and dry
them in a stove."
---The French Cook, Francois Pierre, La Varenne, Englished by I.D.G. 1653, introduced by Philip
and Mary Hyman [Southover Press:East Sussex] 2001 (p. 230)

"Paste of Apricots.
Take them very ripe, and pare them; then put them in a pan without water, and stir tem often with
a scimmer untill they be very dry. Take them off the fire, and mix them with as much sugar sod into
a Conserve as you have of paste."
---ibid (p. 236)

[1694]
"To make Apricock Chips.
Take your apricocks pared & ston'd, & cut every one into 8 pieces, & take to a pound of apricocks
a pound of sugar & half a pint & two spoonfulls of water, beaten very well with the white of an egg.
Wett your sugar with some of the water & when it begins to boyl throw in the rest by a spoonfull at
a time, not too fast, stirring it not att all. When it is enough take it off the fire & take off the scumm;
sift the sugar very fine, then take the apricocks & put them to the sugar. Let them boyle a little &
scum them, then take them up one by one and lay them in a basin & pour the liquor upon them,
scalding hot. So lett them stand two days and two nights, then lay them on a haire seive & let them
draine twelve hours, then take them off & put them on a pie-plate & sett them in an oven just warm,
sifting sugar on them."
---The Receipt Book of Mrs. Ann Blencowe, facsimile 1694 edition [Polyanthos:Cottonport LA]
1972 (p. 9)

"To dry Apricotts like prunelloes.
Take a pound of Apricotts, stone them, pare them & strew a quarter of a pound of beaten sugar over
& under them. When tis dossolv'd set it over a slow fire to boyl: as they begin to boil, scum & turn
them; if any begin to break take them out till the ye [the] rest are enough, then put them into syrup
again; ye next day beat them again, & set them to dry on a sieve that ye syrup may run from them.
Then crack ye stones & blanch them & put them in. And then put them into a stove or oven that is
but warm. Turn them on plates till they are as dry as prunelloes, then dip a cloth in warm water &
pott them with it, that they may not be clammy, & then dry them again a little. Between every row
you put your gallipots, put a paper dip't in water & clapt dry again, & tye them down close with dry
paper. Keep them in a place that's dry but not hot."
---ibid (p. 26)

[1753]
"To dry Apricocks.
Take a pound of apricocks, a pound of double refined sugar; stone them, pare them, and put them
into cold water; when they are all ready, put them into a skillet of hot water, and scald them till they
are tender; then drain them very well from the water, and put them in a silver bason; have in
readiness your sugar boil'd to sugar again, and pour that sugar over your apricocks; cover them with
a silver plate, and let them stand all night; the next day set them over a gentle fire, and let them be
scalding hot, turning them often; you must do them twice a-day, till your see them begin to candy;
then take them out, and set them in your stove or glasses to dry, heating your stove every day utll
they are dry."
---The Complete Housewife or Accomplish'd Gentlewoman's Companion, E. Smith, facsimile 15th
edition, originally published in 1753 [T.J. Press:London] 1968 3(p. 202-3)

[1769]
"To make Apricot Paste
Pare and stone your apricots, boil them in water till they will mash quite small. Put a pound of
double-refined sugar in your preserving pan with as much water as will dissolve it, and boil it to
sugar again. Take it off the stove and put in a pound of apricots, let it stand till the sugar is melted.
Then make it scalding hot, but don't let it boil. Pour it into china dishes or cups, set them in a stove.
When they are stiff enough to turn out put them on glass plates. Turn them as you see occasion till
they are dry."
---The Experienced English Housekeeper, Elizabeth Raffald [1769], with an introduction by Roy
Shipperbottom [Southover Press:East Sussex] 1996 (p. 119)

[18th century]
"112. To make paste of apricocks and pear plums.
Take a pound of Apricocks or pear plums, & put them between 2 dishes with a little rosewater & let
ym [them] boyle till they be tender. Then strayn them, & dry them on a chafing dish of coles. Then
take as much sugar as they weigh, being boyled to candy height; put them together & stir it, &
fashion it on a pie plate in what fashions you pleas. Then stove them, & keep them when they are
dry for yr [your] use."
---Martha Washington's Booke of Cookery and Booke of Sweetmeats, transcribed by Karen Hess
[Columbia University Press:New York] 1981 (p. 294)
[NOTE: Other fruit paste recipes in this book include peach, raspases (raspberries), gooseberries,
pippins (apples), quinces, cherries, oranges and lemons. If you would like to see all of these recipes
ask your librarian to help you find a copy of this book.

[1839]
"Peach leather.
Take freestone peaches, that are ripe and sweet; pare them, mash them to a pulp after taking out the
stones, and weigh it. Break up as many peach kernels as will flavor it to your taste, pound them to
a paste, and mix it with the peach pulp. Weigh your sugar, allowing half a pound to every pound of
peaches; break it up, put it into a preserving kettle with a very little water, boil and skim it, and then
put in your peach pulp; simmer it at least thirty minutes, stirring it very well, and then spread it out
in a smooth coat on dishes, and expose them to the sun till dry, turning them over once a day.
Sprinkle over each piece a little powdered cinnamon and grated lemon, roll them into a scroll, and
keep them in a dry place, exposing them occasionally to the air."
---Kentucky Housewife, Mrs. Lettice Bryan, facsimile reprint 1839 edition [Image Graphics:Paducah
KY] (p. 347-8)

[1847]
"Peach leather.
Take a peck or two of soft freestone peaches, pound them, pass the pulp through a coarse sieve, and
to four quarts of pulp add one quart of good brown sugar; mix them well together, and boil for about
two minutes; spread the paste on plates, and put them in the sun every day until the cakes look dry,
and will leave the plates readily by passing a knife round the edges of the cakes; dust some sugar
over the rough side, and roll them up like sweet wafers. If kept in a dry place they will continue
sound for some months. If the weather is fine, three days will be enough to dry them."
---The Carolina Housewife, Sarah Rutledge, facsimile reprint of 1847 edition [University of South
Carolina:Columbia] 1979 (p. 159)

While the history of sweet compact confections (with or without nuts) is ancient, the fudge we
Americans enjoy today (especially of the chocolate variety) is a relative newcomer.
American confectioners introduced modern fudge to resort-area vacationers in the 1880s.
Mackinac Island (Michigan) is particularly known for this confection. Early recipes for
home-made fudge are more closely related to early 20th century cake icing than other
confections. One of the primary differences between professional and amateur fudge is the
equipment. Professionals employed huge marble tables to work their confections into the right
consistency. Home cooks (& Ivy League co-eds) simply poured their mixed indredients directly
into baking pans and let them cool.

What is fudge"
"Fudge. A semisoft candy made from butter, sugar, and various flavorings, them most usual being
chocolate, vanilla, and maple. The candy was first made in New England women's colleges. The
origins of the term are obscure. The Oxford English Dictionary suggests it may be a
variant of an
older word, "fadge," meaning "to fit pieces together." "Fudge" had been used to mean a hoax or
cheat since about 1833, and by midcentury "Oh, fudge!" was a fairly innocuous expletive. It has
long been speculated that American college women, using candymaking as an excuse to stay up
late at night, applied the then-current meaning to the new candy...The word "fudge as a candy
first showed up in print in 1896, and by 1908 was commonly
associated with women's colleges, as in "Wellesley Fudge,"..."Divinity fudge" with egg whites
and often, candied cherries, came along about 1910 and was especially popular during the
holidays. The name probably referred to its "divine" flavor."
---Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar Friedman:New
York] (p. 135)
[NOTE: The Irish recipe for "fadge" makes an apple potato cake. It was traditionally served on
the feast of Samhain (Halloween).]

"The addition of dairy products [to Scottish tablet] was a development which contributing more
than must flavour...This is exploited by fudge, a confection which relies on similar ingredients
and principles to tablet, but is richer, softer and requires a slightly lower temperature. On
first tasting, the similarities seem overwhelming, both in flavour...and general textures. It is easy
to assume that they share a common origin; but the derivation of the name fudge and the origins
of the sweet are both obscure. Fudge as now understood seems to have travelled east to Britain
from North America. Anecdotal evidence links it to women's colleges in the laste nineteenth
century, and most early recipes include chocolate. It is possible that Scottish migrants took the
idea of milk-based tablet to North America. Whether these were influenced by fudge-like
mixtures of brown sugar and nuts from Creole cuisine of the southern states is unclear. Fudge
appears to have been taken up by confectioners and large companies some years later.
Skuse, who actively collected formulae, including North American ones, did not give one for
fudge in the early editions of his Confectioners Handbook, but recipes first appear in
British books in the first decade of this century."
---Sugar-Plums and Sherbet: The Prehistory of
Sweets, Laura Mason [Prospect Books:Devon] 2004(p. 72)

"Fudge, which denotes a sort of soft, somewhat toffee-like sweet made by boiling together sugar,
butter, and milk, is a mystery word. It first appeared, in the USA, at the end of the nineteenth
century, when it was used for a kind of chocolate bonbon', and by 1902 the journal The
Queen was recording that the greatest "stunt" among college students is to make
Fudge. It is generally assumed to have been an adaptation of the verb fudge, in the
sense make inexpertly, botch. But this merely begs the question, as the origin of the verb, too,
is uncertain."
---An A-Z of Food and Drink, John Ayto [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2002 (p. 133)

It is quite likely enterprising co-eds found "alternative" ways to melt store-bought
chocolate/cocoa (Baker's, Hershey's), adding whatever ingredients they had on hand, to
approximate the semi-soft, delicious confections they tasted on family holiday. Their concoctions
probably tasted pretty good. Where there's a will, there's a way.

Most recipes are not invented, they evolve. Compare this recipe for "chocolate caramel"
with those below for "fudge":

[1884] Chocolate Caramels
"One cup of molasses, half a cup of sugar, one quarter of a pound of chocolate, cut fine, half a
cup of milk, and one heaping tablespoonful of butter. Boil all together, stirring all the time. When
it hardens in cold water, pour into shallow pans, as it cools cut in small squares."
---Boston Cooking School Cook Book, Mrs. D. A. Lincoln [1884] [Dover
Publications:Mineola NY] 1996 (p. 390)

[1896]
"Vassar girls not only indulge freely in 'sweets' of every known variety, but they get up new recipes whenever their sated
palats demand a change. The following is the reicpe for 'fudge,' the latest confectionery dainty:
Two cups of sugar, one cup of milk, a piece of butter one-half the size of an egg, and a teaspoonful of vanilla extract. The
mixture is cooked until it begins to get grimy. Then it is taken from the fire, stirred briskly and turned into buttered tins.
Fudge may be eaten hot or cold, but it is never so truly delicious as when, at the witching hour of midnight, it is first removed
from the gas jet or alcohol lamp and served on bits of cardboard, or portions of a manicure set, bubbling hot, to a group of
maidens in night attire."---"'Fudges' Are Vassar Chocolates," Los Angeles Times, May 11, 1896 (p. 2)

[1903]
Fudge
4 ounces of chocolate
2 cups of sugar
1 teaspoonful of vanilla
1/2 cup of milk
1 rounding tablespoonful of butter
Put the sugar, butter, chocolate and milk in a saucepan over the fire until thoroughly melted. Boil,
stirring constantly, until the mixture hardens when dropped into cold water; take from the fire,
add the vanilla, and turn quickly out to cool. When cold, cut into squares."
---Mrs. Rorer's New Cook Book, Sarah Tyson Rorer [Arnold and Company:Philadelphia]
1902 (p. 629)

[1929]
"The name fudge is applied to a large group of candies made of sugar boiled with water, milk, or
cream, from 230 degrees F. To 238 degrees F., and stirred or worked with a paddle until candy
becomes firm. If stirred while still hot, the resulting candy is coarse and granular. To prevent this,
the syrup should be cooled in the saucepan in which it is cooked, or poured out upon a marble
slab, platter, or agate tray that has been slightly moistened with a piece of wet cheesecloth. It
should not be disturbed until cool. It should then be stirred with a wooden spoon, or worked with
a spatula forward and lifting up the mass, turning it over and bringing it back, until the whole
begins to get stiff. At this stage, turn into a pan, or, better still, leave the candy between bars on
wax paper on a board, regulating the size of the open space according to the amount of candy and
the thickness desired."The Candy Cook Book, Alice Bradley [Little Brown:Boston] 1929 (p. 49)
[NOTE: this book contains the following recipes recipes for fudge: chocolate, cocoa, sour cream,
chocolate acorns, chocolate Brazil nut, chocolate marshmallow, chocolate walnut, condensed
milk, cream nut, plum pudding, sultana, caramel, cocoanut, cocoanut cream, coffee, coffee
cocoanut, fruit, ginger, marshmallow, maple marshmallow, maple chocolate, maple nut, praline,
maple cream, walnut maple, pecan maple, orange, peanut butter, raisin, raspberry, vanilla, nut,
vanilla opera, rainbow, maraschino opera, orange flower opera, pistachio, orange opera, genessee,
brown sugar (penuche), fig penuche, fruit penuche, marshmallow penuche, pecan penuche, peanut
penuche, Postum penuche (with instant Postum cereal), raisin penuche, double fudge (I & II),
divinity, sea foam, Grapenuts divinity (also a cereal), cream mints, cherry puffs, nut puffs, and
pineapple puffs.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines motto thusly:
"Motto 4. U.S. A sweet wrapped in fancy paper together with a saying or short piece of verse. See also motto candy n., motto kiss n. at Compounds 2. Cf. cockle n.2 4. Obs.
1835 Southern Lit. Messenger 1 358, I only ate..a few macaronies and mottoes.
1856 F. S. Cozzens Sparrowgrass Papers iv. 42 And that lady..went home with her pocket well stuffed with mottoes.
1860 North-West (Port Townsend, Washington) 5 July 3/3 Candies, Gum drops, Mottoes....
motto candy n. U.S. (now rare) = sense 4.
1857 Harper's Weekly 28 Mar. 196/2 Here is the list..a glass jar with nameless candies rolled up in ladies' curl papers; similar jar with lemon drops;..1 bottle of motto candies.
1886 Harper's New Monthly Mag. 72 625/1 Many groups of lads and lasses..exchanged notes, threw one another motto candies, and even kept up conversations
in under-tones."

"Kissing comfits , as detailed by Robert May in 1685, were sugar paste containg musk, civet, ambergris, and orris powder.
These were printed in moulds or rolled
into little pellets and then squeezed flat with a seal...The combination of sugar and mottoes continued, Hannah Glasse gave instructions 'to make little things of sugar,
with devices in them. These were made from the pieces of sugar paste, tinted whatever colour was preferred, 'in what shapes you like...in the middle of them have
little pieces of paper, with some pretty smart sentences wrote on them; they will in company make much mirth.' But the writing migrated from paper to the sweet
itself with the Victorian fashion for 'conversation lozenges'. Those who were tongue-tied could always offer their companion a little piece of sugar paste printed
with some suitable inscription. 'How do you flirt?' "Can you polka?' and 'Love me' were amongst those available from Terry's in York; for those wanting to make a
really positive response, a large medallion moulded with a heart and the words 'I will' was available. Another novelty was reminiscent of Hannah Glasse's little
things with devices in them. As advertised by the firm of Thomas Handisyde in the East End of London, these were 'Handisydes Secret Charms suck carefully and
the secret message will appear'. Handisyde produced various shapes and sizes of conversation lozenges, the larger ones cut in hearts, circles, and elegant oblongs
with ogee edges. The temperance movement used the idea of motto lozenges to promote their message. 'Drink is the ruin of man'...The inscriptions were added to
the sweets by printing the tops with stamps dipped in dyes."
---Sugar Plums and Sherbet: The Preshistory of Sweets, Laura Mason [Prospect Books:Devon] 2004 (p. 146-147)

"Opera drops were chocolates with vanilla cream filling, kind of conical, haystack shaped. You
would by them at intermission at the opera. There was a British brand called Between the Acts
that you could buy at Bailey's in Boston."
---Dictionary of American Regional English, Frederick G. Cassidy & Joan Houston Hall,
volume III (p. 890)

"Fondant...A variety of fondant which had cream amongst its ingredients was popular in the late
19th and early 20th centuries under the name of 'Opera Caramels'."
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p.
312)

The name "opera" seems indeed to be a 20th century invention, evidenced by the fact that Skuse's Complete Confectioner [an important industry text, London: 1898?] makes no
reference to them. Skuse's also does not use the word "fudge."

[1905]
"Opera Creams
These are beginning to outdo fudge in popularity. Melt together slowly three fourths cup of milk, two cups of sugar, and two
squares of chocolate; then boil for three or four minutes, flavor and put in a cold place. The pan should not be touched for at least an
hour or until it is absolutely cold. Then beat until it becomes resistant and creamy. Drop into cournd balls on paper.-[L.E.G.,
Vassar College.]"
---"Dormitory Favorites," Christian Advocate, August 3, 1905; 80,31; American Periodicals (p. 1242)
[NOTE: This article cites Good Housekeeping as the source of this recipe.]

[1913]
"Opera Creams.
Into two cups granulated sugar stir enough milk to dissolve it; add one-quarter teaspoon cream of tartar and put over slow fire.
Stir constatnly while boiling, until a little dropped in cold water is like putty. Pour into pans and set aside until cold and firm;
beat to a soft doughlike mass, knead, lay on a sugared pastry board, roll into a sheet one-half inch thick, and cut into squares."
---"Marion Harland's Helping Hand: Opera Creams," Marion Harland, Chicago Tribune, September 16, 1913 (p. 13)

[1924]
"Opera Creams
Melt together three-fourths cup of milk, two cups sugar, two squares chocolate. Boil three or four minutes, flavor and set in cool place until absolutely cold, then
beat until it becomes creamy. Drop into balls on waxed paper."
---Carbondale Cook Book, prepared by the Young Lady Workers of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Carbondale, PA, 7th edition, revised and enlarged [International Textbook Press:Scranton PA] 1924 (p. 193)

[1929]
"Opera Bonbons. Color and flavor as desired small portions of Opera Fondant. With the hands shape in small balls, putting a piece of nut, cherry, or marshmallow
in the center of each ball. Melt another portion of Opera Fondant in a double boiler over hot water, stirring constantly. Add half a teaspoon of vanilla, and drop
centers one at a time in the fondant. Remove with candy dipper or two-tined fork to waxed paper. When enough white bonbons have been made, add a little pink
or green color paste and raspberry or almond extract to taste to the melted fondant. Dip more of the centers, stirring the fondant, and reheating it if it becomes too
stiff. Then add to remaining fondant one square melted chocolate, and dip remaining balls. In this way a great variety of attractive bonbons may be produced.
Other flavors and colors may be used for greater variety, and tops may be decorated with small pices of nuts or cherries if desired. The centers may also be dipped
in melted coating chocolate. White Fondants 1, II , or III may be used instead of Opera Fondant."
---The Candy Cook Book, Alice Bradley [Little, Brown:Boston] 1929 (p. 98-99)

Put sugar and cream in a saucepan, stir until it dissolves, add cream of tartar, and boil, stirring
carefully to prevent burning, to 238 degrees F., or until candy forms a soft ball when tried in cold
water. Move thermometer often, that candy many not burn underneath. Pour on marble slab,
agate tray, or large platter which has been slightly moistened with a damp cloth, and leave until
cool. With broad spatula or butter paddle work the candy back and forth until it becomes creamy.
It may take some time, but it will surely change at last if it was boiled to the right temperature.
Cover with a damp cloth for half an hour, then add vanilla, working it well with the hands. Press
into a small shallow box lined with wax paper, let stand to harden, then cut in squares.
Other flavors may be used instead of vanilla, and the candy be tinted with color paste to
correspond. Sometimes the fudge is divided into several portions, each flavored and colored
differently, and pressed into a box of thin layers, then cut in squares when hard. Or each portion
may be packed separately to give more variety when arranged on a bonbon dish."
---The Candy Book, Alice Bradley [Little, Brown:Boston] 1929 (p. 67)

[1931]
"Chocolate Opera Fudge
Put three squares of bitter chocolate in to a saucepan and set it over warm water; when melted add alternately and gradually two cupfuls of sugar and one cupful of
medium cream, also one teaspoonful of corn syrup and a pinch of salt. Boil to 230 deg. Fahr. Pour on marble slab, let cool slightly and work like fondant. When it
can be handled knead till creamy and flavor with a little orange extract, then shape into little balls and let crust."
---"Requested Recipes," Marian Manners, Los Angeles Times, November 30, 1931 (p. A7)

The connection between professionally manufactured candy products and military campaigns is
an interesting and persistent phenomenon. Gibraltar Rock took its name from the Battle of
Gibraltar, 1607. During World War II, American confectionery companies were crafted
hard candies shaped like guns, soldiers and tanks.

Horehound candy
Many candies began as medicine. Hard candies, especially. Lozenges have long been appreciated
for slowly releasing healing herbs with pleasant taste (sugar, lemon or mint). Modern cough
drops descend from this tradition. Food historians confirm horehound was appreciated for its medicinal properties by
ancient peoples. The earliest "recipes" were medicines, generally sweetened syrups. The first print reference we find for
candy (hardened syrup) are from the 17th century. Perhaps the [hard] candy form evolved as a convenience.

[15th century Italy]
"Book III, 42. On Horehound
Horehound is what the Greeks call prachion because of its bitterness, and it is numbered by them in the first rank of herbs. When
its seeds and leaves are ground, they are effective against snakes. They settle pains of the chest or side or coughs. Castor tells of two
kinds of horehound, black, which he approves more, and white. From either, when they are chopped fine and mixed with flour, tidbits
are made which we eat for health at the first course, after they have been fried in oil in a pan. They are believed to get rid
of worms, and for this reason they are often served to children."
---On Right Pleasure and Good Health, Platina [originally published in the 15th century], critical edition and translation by
Mary Ella Milham [Medieval & Renaissance Texts & Studies:Tempe AZ] 1998 (p. 205, 207)

[17th century England]
"For the phthisic.
...take horehound, violet leaves, and hyssop, of ech a good handful, seethe them in water, and put thereto a little saffron,
liquorice, and sugar candy; after they have boiled a good while, then strain it into an earthen vessel, and let the sick drink
thereov six spoonful at a time morning and evening..."
---The English Housewife, Gervase Markham [originally published 1615], edited by Michael R. Best McGill-Queen's University
Press:Montreal] 1994, Chapter 1, recipe 88 (p. 23)

[18th century America]
"246. To Make Sirrup of Horehound.
Take hore hound, 2 handfulls; coltsfood, one handfull; time, penny royall, & callamint, of each 2 drams; licorish, one ounce
& a halfe; figgs & raysons of the sun, of each 2 ounces; anny seeds & fennell seeds, of each a quarter of an ounce. boyle all these
in a gallon of faire water till it comes to a pottle or 3 pintes, then strayne it & take 3 pound of sugar & 3 whites of eggs &
clarefy with liquor, & soe boyle it to a sirrup."
---Martha Washington's Booke of Cookery, transcribed by Karen Hess [Columbia University Press:New York] 1981, Booke of
Sweetmeats, (p. 376)

The earliest print references we find for horehound candy in American cookbooks are from the 19th century:

[1929]
"Horehound Candy
1/2 ounce dried horehound
1 cup boiling water
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
Put water and horehound, which may be procured of a druggist in one-ounce packages, in a saucepan and let stand one minute. Strain
through double cheesecloth; these whould be half a cup of liquid. To liquid add sugar and cream of tartar, and stir until
mixture boils. Wash down crystals from sides of saucepan with a butter brush dipped in cold water, and boil to 300 degrees F., or
until it is very brittle when tried in cold water. Remove at once from the fire, and pour into buttered pan one fourth inch
thick, or pour between candy bars. As soon as it cools a little, loosen it from the pan, and mark in small squares. Go over the marks
with a knife until candy is cold, then break with the hands. Pack in air-tight jar, and keep in a cool place, or wrap in wax
paper."
---The Candy Book, Alice Bradley [Little, Brown:Boston] 1929 (p. 130-131)

Laura Mason, Britsih confectionery history expert, briefly mentions
'horehound taffy' in the late 1890s. She does not offer an exact date/place/person credited for
making the first batch. (Sugarplums and Sherbet: The Prehistory of Sweets, Prospect
Books:Devon 2004, p. 183)

Why the name?
"Hoarhound, or Horehound: a bush plant of the mint fmaily native to the south of Europe and
Eastern countries, growing about a foot high, and with round, wrinkled, almost hairy ("hoary")
leaves, which contain a bitter principle and volatile oil of aromatic but not very agreeable smell.
It is used as a flavor for candy and also in medicinal syrups for its curative properties for coughs
and other affections."
---The Grocer's Encyclopedia, Artemas Ward [New York] 1911 (p. 301)

Modern definitions:
"The word "jelly" derives from the Middle English, geli, and ultimately from the Latin gelare, "to freeze."..."Jam"
differs from jelly in being made with fresh or dried fruit rather than juice and has a thicker texture..."Preserves"
differ from jams and jellies by containing pieces of the fruit."
---Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New York] 1999 (p. 171)

"In 1754, the first English patent for the manufacture of gelatin was granted...Unflavored, dried gelatin
became available in 1842 from the J and G Company of Edinburgh, Scotland...In America, in 1845, Peter
Cooper, inventor of the steam locomotive, secured a patent for a gelatin dessert powder called Portable
Gelatin, requiring only the addition of hot water. The same year, the J and G Company began exporting its
Cox Gelatin to the United States. The new formulas never gained much popularity, however, and as late
as 1879 when the classic Housekeeping in Old Virginia was published, editor Marion Cabell Tyree, while
admitting that jelly made of calves and hogs was "more troublesome," claimed it was more nutritious than
Cox's or Nelson's desiccated formulas. Plymouth Rock Gelatin Company of Boston patented its Phosphated
Gelatin in 1889. In 1894, Charles Knox introduced granulated gelatin, making the brand something of a
household word. This opened the way for the plethora of American recipes that gained popularity..."
---Encyclopedia of Food and Culture, Solomon H. Katz, editor in chief [Charles Scribners:New York] 2003,
Volume 2 (p. 104-5)

"[Peter] Cooper took out the first U.S. U.S. patent for a gelatin dessert in 1845. It described "a transparent
concentrated or solidified jelly containing all the ingredients fitting it for table use...and requiring only the
addition of a prescribed quantity of hot water to dissolve it."...Cooper also invented a gelatin "eagle" to help
time the gelatin-making process...Knox, Cox (of Scotland), and other companies were already making
other kinds of convenience gelatin products. But sheet and shredded gelatin still had to be soaked, and
sometimes cooked and strained as well."
---Jell-O: A Biography, Carolyn Wyman [Harcourt:New York] 2001 (p. 3)
[NOTE: The Jell-O museum is in LeRoy, NY. We have been there. Very
cool place!]

Jelly beans
Jelly beans belong to the culinary family of fruit jellies. These sweet confections have long been enjoyed as jams, jellies,
conserves, and preserves. Fruit gums, leathers and decorative chewy slices are natural iterations along this culinary theme.
Food historians generally agree jelly beans, as we know them today, descended from Turkish
Delight, a fruit-gum confection
originating in the Middle East. These were very popular from the mid-19th century forwards. Laura Mason, British confectionery expert,
credits the USA for developing jelly beans. To date, we find no particular person, place or company claiming to have invented the first
"jelly bean."

"[in the 16th century]The majority of these fruit sweetmeats were available in two guises. They could be wet, swimming in rich syrup, stored in jars
and eaten with a spoon or (later) fork. Or they could be dry, in lumps or little chips, coated in sugar and kept in boxes between
thick sheets of paper...There were other fruit sweets devised in the medieval period, the ancestors of multi-coloured modern
fruit jellies. The names for these sweets make them sound more like breakfast or teatime delicacies, but it is necessary to
forget the modern meanings of these words for a moment. Take marmalade. Today, this is a jam-like condiment made of oranges and
sugar, semi liquid and flecked with strips fo peel...But the name is derived from the medieval Portuguese marmelada, a stiff
paste that was cut in slices rather than spread. The word derives from the Portuguese marmelo, or quince, since this fragrant
yet knobbly item was originally the favoured fruit for preserving, and it became the term used by the mid sixteenth century
to describe all kinds of fruits preserves, not glutinous and syrupy as they are today, but stiff enought to be made into
individual sweets if so desired...It is possible that the technique of naking thse marmalades and other conserves, by boiling up
equal amounts of fruit pulp and sugar in water, was inherited from the Levant, where confectioners were skilled at melding fruit with
sugar largely because of the ubiquity of sherbet...The main ingredients of sherbet were sugar syrup or sugar candy--in Turkey
a dark pink substance called gul sekeri--and any one of scores of fruit juices and pulots...However, a seventeethn-century visitor
to Turkey described this base sherbet flavour not as a liquid but as a type of fruit paste. And Francis Bacon, writing in 1626,
notes: "They have in Turkey and the East certaine Confections, which they call Servets [sherbets], which are like to Candied
Conserves and...these they dissolve in Water, and therof make their Drinke...'...Stiff fruit fruit jellies, coated in sugar, as well
as wobbly ones for the pudding table, were greatly in favour during the eighteenth century, when the thickening agent used was
sometimes isinglass...Another type of conserved fruit sweetmeat persists as the unappetisingly named 'leather', thin layers of
fruit paste, made of fruit and sugar in equal parts...This leather is known as armadine in the Middle East..."
---Sweets: A History of Temptation, Tim Richardson [Bantam Books:London] 2002 (p. 128-132)

"Jelly beans are a combination of the Middle Eastern fruit-gum candy Turkish Delight and the
seventeenth-century method of coating Jordan almonds. The production of jelly beans has
changed little since the candy was first developed in the late nineteenth century...The date of the
introduction of the jelly bean is in dispute, but the earliest known published mention of the candy
was October 2, 1898, in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. By the turn of the century, jelly beans were
popular, selling for nine to twelve cents per pound, and by the 1930s they had become associated
with Easter."
---Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, Andrew F. Smith editor [Oxford
University Press:New York] 2004, Volume 1 (p. 182)

"As with many other sweets, mass-production and cheapness banished the magic. They have become slicker, from techniques for glazing
the surface with edible waxes. They have become more yielding, as 'soft panning' evolved, using glucose syrup in place of sugar
syrup required for old-fashioned hard comfits, and relying as much on air currents as on heating to dry the sweets. Jelly beans are
the best example: developed in the USA, these spread eastwards to Europe, together with chewing gum (the varieties of this which have
crisp little sugar shells are also panned)."
---Sugar Plums and Sherbet: The Prehistory of Sweets, Laura Mason [Prospect Books:Devon] 2004 (p. 132-3)

"Some gum-based sweets remain recognizably close to the original opaque confections once made from sugar paste. But a second strand,
exploiting gums as transparent setting agents for sugar syrup, was evident by the early nineteenth century. Precidents came from fruit swets...which
relised on pectin and sugar to make them set...By 1820, when Jarrin gave this recipe, clear gum and sugar sweets were being made under
the name of jujubes: 'Jujube Paste. 1 pound of Gum Senegal, half bound of Sugar, Orange Flower Water, Take a pound of gum senegal,
pound and dissolve it in orange flower water...put it on a slow fire to reduce, and keep stirring it; when it is of the consistence
of paste, clarify half a pound of loaf sugar, boil it do a blow, and add it to your paste...dry it to a good consistence;
run it into moulds of tin about a quarter inch thick, and place them in a stove. When dry, take out the paste and cutr it into small
pieces, or any shapes you please.' Jubube paste, he added, 'is in great vogue in France, and on the continent as a medicine for
coughs and colds...Jujubes were apparently popular as cough-cures throughout the nineteenth century..."
---Sugarplums and Sherbet: The Prehistory of Sweets, Laura Mason [Prospect Books:Devon] 2004 (p. 140-141)

"Jujubes. Confections of sugar syrup and fruit flavourings, set with a high proportion of
gum, and falling into the general category of fruit gums and fruit losenges, often with a
medicinal application, e.g. good for sore throats. Jujubes have been made since at least
1830 when Gunter wrote in his Confectioner's Oracle that "Jujubes are very much in
vogue abroad,--but it would be exceedingly difficult to say wherefore.:-they are at best
very little better than a sweetish sort of India-rubber!!"
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999
(p. 423)

"Jujube (Ziziphus jujuba). Also, "Chinese date." The fruit of an Old World tree having
dark red skin and yellowish flowers. The term, which comes from the Middle English
iuiube, also applies to several varieties of candies that are fruit-flavored and chewy,
though not necessarily similar in taste to the jujube fruit. A commerically produced candy
called "Jujubes" (which probably took its name from the ju-ju gum that gave the tiny
morsels their chewy texture) came on the American market sometime before 1920 and
was followed by "Jujyfruits," which were shaped like candy berries, in 1920. Both
candies are produced by the Heide company of New Jersey."
---Encyclopedia of American Encyclopedia Food and Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New York] 1999 (p. 173)

Liquorice
Like marshmallows, liquorice (North Americans prefer 'licorice')
is an ancient remedy that survives today as candy. Up until the 19th century both items were
based plant extracts. Today they are mass produced with synthetic ingredients and no longer
contain the original healing ingredient.

"Licorice. The Greek word glykyrrhiza, meaning "sweet root," gave rise to the Latin name...for
licorice, which is the condensed juice from the roots of this Old World plant. A native of the
Middle east, licorice was employed by the ancient Egyptians in medicinal preparations. Today, it
is used in candy, to flavor liquors, and in the manufacture of tobacco. It addition, there is
American licorice, G. Lepidota, a wild licorice of North America with roots that were cooked by
Native Americans, who also nibbled on the raw roots as a treat."
---Cambridge World History of Food, Kenneth F. Kiple & Kriemhild Conee Ornelas
[Cambridge University Press:Cambridge] 2000, Volume Two (p. 1802)

"Liquorice, aromatic root native to southern Russia and central Asia. Liquorice was familiar in the
classical Mediterranean and had medicinal uses. In particular, sweet protropos wine, whether
Scybelite or Theran, formed the basis of a medicinal wine in which liquorice was an ingredient,
according to Galen. It was also an ingredient in a compound which was used for doctoring young
wine to give it age: Damegeron supplies a recipe. By late Roman times liquorice was grown
plentifully in northern Anatolia."
---Food in the Ancient World From A to Z, Andrew Dalby [Routledge:London] 2003 (p.
197)

"Liquorice (or licorice), Glycyrrhiza glabra, a small leguminous plant whose thick roots, up to
about 1 m (40") long, and inderground runners contain a very sweet compound called
glycyrrhizin. In its pure form this is 50 times sweeter than ordinary sugar; but the plant also
contains bitter substances which partly mask the sweet taste. The name liquorice' is a corruption
of the original Greek name glycorrhiza, meaning sweet root', which is also an old English
name.The plant, in one form or another, grows wild in parts of Asia and southern
Europe...Cultivation in western Europe seems to have begun on a significant scale in the 16th
century...Liquorice was used as a flavouring and colouring in a number of sweet foods including
gingerbread; in stout and other dark beers. However, it is probably in confectionery that liquoirce
has found its most extensive and attractive culinary use....[a] traditional British liquorice
confections goes by the name of Pontefract cakes, or Yorkshire pennies, little shiny black
liquorice sweets...made in Pontefract, in Yorkshire, which has been the centre of
liquorice-growing in England for many centuries. The origins of liquorice growing in Pontefract,
popularly
attributed to the monks of a local monastery, are unknown. However, liquorice was being grown
there on a large scale by the mid-17th century..."
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford Universtiy Press:Oxford] 1999 (p.
455)
[NOTE: this source site to sources for further study. Ask your librarian to help you track them
down.]

"Liquorice...is the pungent root of a small European plant of the pea family. It was used as a
flavouring in ancient times...and has been known in Britain since at least the early thirteenth
century, introduced via Spain from the Arabs. In medieval times and up until the seventeenth
century it was commonly used, either whole or ground up, for flavouring cakes, puddings, drinks,
etc...Nowadays, however, it is far more familiar in the form of a black sweet, made from the
evaporated juice of the liquoice root. Earliest examples of this include the pontefract cake, a
small disc-shaped pastille of liquorice, but over the past 60 or 70 years a far more varied
repertoire of liquorice sweets has emerged, including the liquorice bootlace...[and] liquorice
allsorts."
---An A-Z of Food and Drink, John Ayto [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2002 (p.
191-2)

19th century liquorice
"Liquorice and Liquorice Root. Liquorice is a long and creeping root, procured from a plant of
the pod-bearing tribe. It is cultivated in England, but is a native chiefly of Spain and of Southern
Europe. The extract of the root is known as "black sugar," "stick liquorice," "Spanish juice," or
"hard extract of liquorice." It forms the basis of several kinds of lozenges, and is added generally
to soothing drinks. It is employed, as every one knows, as a demulcent remedy in coughs and
other complaints. Even when used in considerable quantitiy it does not disorder the stomach, or
even create thirst like common sugar."
---Cassell's Dictionary of Cookery with Numerous Illustrations [Cassell, Petter, Galpin &
Co.:London] 1875? (p. 382)

"Liquorice. The black mass which comes on the market in rolls is the boiled juice of the liquorice
plant which grows in all parts of the world. It is most commonly done up in sticks, is dry and
brittle, and to be soluble in water it should be pure. It is adulterated to such and extent that the
pure article is scarce. A mixture of a little of the juice with the poorest kind of gum arabic, starch
and flour, is what is generally put on the market for liquorice. Its principal use is in medicine, and
it is extensively used in the manufacture of tobacco and liquors, especially to give color and flavor
to porter and brown stout."
---The Grocers' Hand Book and Directory for 1886, Artemas Ward [Philadephia Grocer
Publishing Company:Philadelphia] 1886 (p. 95)

"Sugar candy...both the etymology of the term sugar candy and the methods given in early
recipes for making it indicate an ancient origin. Sugar candy can be traced back through Persian
quand to Sanskrit khanda, maning sugar in pieces. The fact that the word has such an ancient
derivation shows just what a desirable and uncommon item sugar candy was as it travelled from
culture to culture."
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999
(p. 768)

"When sugar first became known in Europe it was a rare and costly commodity, valued mainly for
its supposed medicinal qualities and finding its place in the pharmacopoeia of the medieval
apothecary...Sugar gradually became more widely available in Europe during the Middle Ages. In
Britain it was considered to be an excellent remedy for winter colds. It might be eaten in the form
of candy crystals...or it might be made into little twisted sticks which were called in Latin penida,
later Anglicized to pennets. The tradition of penida survives most clearly in American stick candy
which is similarly twisted and flavoured with essences supposed to be effective against colds, such
as oil of wintergreen."
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999
(p. 210)

"Lollipop. The word lollipop is first recorded in 1784, in a January issue of the
London Chronicle...At this stage...lollipops were simply sweets (a meaning the
abbreviated lolly retains in Australia and New Zealand), and it does not seem to have
been until the early twentieth century that they gained their now quintessential
characteristic, the stick...As for the origin of lollipop itself, that is not altogether clear;
the explanation usually given is that it was based on lolly an obsolete northern
[English] term for the tongue (so called because it lolls' out.)"
---An A-Z of Food and Drink, John Ayto [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2002
(p. 193)

"Lollipop...The term lolly is an 18th century-century one for mouth, so a lollipop was
something that one popped into one's mouth. It did not necessarily mean a sweet with a
stick, as became usual later. A few old-fashioned boiled sweets sold by British
confectioners are still called lollies though they are stickless....In the USA the other
end of the word (pop) has been used as the bais for the...term popsicle."
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford]
1999 (p. 459)

"Lollipop. A hard candy attached to a stick usually made of rolled paper (1785). It is a
favorite children's snack and has been so since it was introduced in England in the
1780s. The name comes from an English dialect word, "lolly," "tongue," and the "pop" is
probably associated with the sound made when the candy is withdrawn from the
mouth."
---Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New
York] 1999 (p. 188)

Instructions for making these sweets are included in professional confectioners' texts.
There were special machines for achieving perfect shapes and inserting the sticks.
Skuse's Complete Confectioner [London:1890s] has several recipes for boiled
sugar [hard] candies. Most of these were shaped as sticks, drops, rocks, and balls.
They came in a variety of flavors and colors. There is no mention of inserting sticks into
any of these creations. There is also a small section devoted to "boiled sugar toys."
These candies were shaped with molds. According to Skuse, animal shapes were very
popular. There is also instruction for making three-dimensional [hollow] candy whistles.

The earliest "recipe" for lollipops [with a stick] we have is from 1918/1919:

"All day suckers or loulopops.
This is an old-time piece which has lately come into favor once more. It is more or less
a wholesale piece, but is simple to make if the small shop has a sucker machine. It is
made as follows: 10 pounds sugar, 10 pounds corn syrup, 1 quart water. Cook to 290
degrees F., then pour out on a slab. Fold in edges and use work up bar...Color and
flavor to suit then spin in strips 1 1/4 inches thick and feed into sucker machine."
---Rigby's Reliable Candy Teacher, W. O. Rigby, 19th edition, [USA]
1918/1919? (p. 194)

"Lolly Pops.
Make Barley Sugar or Butterscotch Wafer mixture, pour onto oiled marble slab, cook
slightly, roll up like jelly roll, toss back and forth until cool enough to handle, cut off with
scissors in pieces one and one half inches long, and insert stick in one end. With palm
of hand press into shape. Wrap in wax paper."
---The Candy Cook Book, Alice Bradly [Little Brown:Boston] 1929 (p. 136)

"Marmalade, in Britain, refers to a jam-like preserve made from the bitter, or Seville, orange. The inclusion of the orange peel, cut into thin 'chips' or shreds, is
characteristic of this preserve. 'Marmalades' based on other citrus fruits, such as lime or lemon, are made as is ginger marmalade. However, orange marmalade is
perceived as the archtype (although not the prototype), and orange marmalade, with toast, is part of the 20th-century concept of the traditional English breakfast.
The evolution of marmalade is a complicated story...Marmelada was the Portuguese name for a sweet, solid, quince paste...This luxury good was imported to
Britain by the laste 15th cnetuy, to be used as a medicine or a sweetmeat. Clear versions were known as cotignac (France) or quiddony (England). Recipes for
quiddonies and thick quince marmalades of this sort are frequent in 16th- and 17th-century English cookery books. Lemons and bitter oranges had also been
imported to medieval and Tudor England. These...were pulped into stiff 'conserves' and were called, by analogy with the Portuguese product, 'marmalades'. They
were set in wooden boxes, or moulded in fancy shapes, to form part of the dessert or banquet course. Other fruits, such as camsons, apples, pears, and peaches
were also made into marmalades. All these marmalades were relatively solid confections, to be cut into slices and eaten from the fingers, not at all like moderrn
marmalade. The 18th century saw a new developement; finely cut peel, the precursor of the modern product. There is a strong traditional belief that Sctoland was
responsible for the creation of the new jellied orange marmalade. If some of the tales told in support of this belief tax credibility, never mind, it 'feels' right. At this
time marmalade was still percieved as a suitable item for dessert in England; but Scottish recipes for the mid-18th century used a higher proportion of water, giving
a 'spreadable' consistency. In fact marmalade does appear to have been used as a breakfast spread at a much earlier date in Scotalnd than in England. Meanwhile
, and well into the 19th century, thick quice marmalades continued to appear in recipe books, so at this time the term 'marmamalde' was used in a wider range of
senses than it is now...It was during the latter part of the 19th century that jams...became the subject of a rapidly growing industry, mainly because sugar became
much cheaper. Bread and jam became a cheap source of noursihment for the working classes. And marmalade received a boost, since the jam factories could
produce orange marmalade in winter at not much greater cost than that of jams made with home-grown fruits during the summer. Marmalade...had more of a luxury
image than jam, and was exported to be used on breadfast tables throughout the British Empire...The range of differnt marmalades now being made in Britain,
including some based on combinations of several citrus fruits, dark and light ones, chunky ones, and some with just slivers of peel in a clear jelly...is vast..."
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidsion [Oxford Univeristy Press:Oxford] 2nd edition, 2006 (p. 483)

"The word marmalade originally signified 'quince jam.' It comes via French from Portuguese marmelada, a derivative of marmelo, 'quince'. This in turn goes
ultimately to melimelon, a Greek term, meaning literally 'honey-apple', which was applied to the fruit of an apple gree grafted on to a quince...In the fifteenth and
early sixteenth centuries such quince preserve was known in English as chare de quince or chardecoynes...but in 1524 we find the first referernce to marmalade, in
an account of the presentation of 'one box of marmalade' to the king by a certain 'Hull of Exeter'. Throughout the sixteenth century its main ingredient appears to
have remained quince, but the seventeenth century saw a sudden diversity, with fruits such as plums, damsons, and even straweberries and dates being used for
marmalade (at this time citrus fruits preserved in sugar was still generally called succade...In 1767, Hannah Glasse gave a recipe for 'marmalade of cherries', and as
late as 1845 Eliza Acton in her Modern Cookery for Private Families was giving directions on how to make a 'marmamade'. As this last phase implies, marmalade
was from earliest times not the soft spreadable confection of today, but a firm sweetmeat that could be cut with a knife, and was eated as part of the dessert course
of a meal. The use of citrus fruits for marmalade seems to have begun in the seventeenth cnetury, and in the middle of that century we find the first references to the
addition of sliced peel. But it is not really until the middle of the nineteeth century that this ingredient had so ousted all others that it became safe to assume that
marmalade meant, essentially, 'orange marmalade'...In other European languages, such as French and German, the word still means generally 'jam' or 'preserve'...
but the notion of 'citrus preserve' has become so firmly ensconced in English that in 1981 and EC edict declared that the term marmalade could not be applied to
a product made other than with oranges, lemons, or grapefruit."
---An A-Z of Food and Drink, John Ayto [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2002 (p. 203-4)

Recomemnded reading:The Book of Marmalade/C. Anne Wilson

[1747]
"Orange Marmalade. Take the best Seville Oranges, cut them in Quarters, grate them to take out the Bitterness, put them in Water, which you must shift twice
or thrice a Day for three Days; then boil them, shifting the Water till they are tender, then shred them very small, them pick out the Skins and Seeds from the Meat
which you pulled out, and put it to the Peel that is shread; and to a Pound of that Pulp take a Pound of double-refined Sugar. Wet your Sugar with Water, and boil
it up to a candy Height, (wth a very quick Fire) which you may know by the dropping of it; for it hangs like a Hair; then take off the Fire, put in your Pulp, stir it
well together, then set it on the Embers, and stir it till it is thick, but let it not boil. If you would have it cut like Marmalade, add some Jelly of Pippins, and allow
Sugar for it."
---The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy, Hannah Glasse, facsimile 1747 edition [Prospect Books:Devon] 1995 (p. 152)
[NOTE: Mrs. Glasse also provides recipes for White Marmalade and Red Marmalade, both made with quinces.]

[1829]
"Scotch orange-chip marmalade.--Take equal weight of fine loaf-sugar and Seville oranges. Wipe and grate the oranges, but not too much. [The outer grate boiled
up with sugar will make an excellent conserve for rice, custard, or batter puddings.] Cut the oranges the cross way, and squeeze out the juice through a small sieve.
Scrape off the pulp from the inner skins, and pick out the seeds. Boil the skins till perfectly tender, changing the water to take off part of the bitter. When cool,
scrape the coarse, white, and thready part from the skins, and trussing three or four skins together for despatch, cut them into narrow chips. Clarify the sugar, and
put the chips, pulp, and juice to it. Add, when boiled for ten minutes, the juice and grate of two lemons to every dozen of oranges. Skim and boil for twenty minutes;
to and cover when cold. --Obs. There are variou ways of making this favourite marmalade. The half of the boiled skins may be pounded before they are mixed;
and if the chips look too numerous, part of them may be withheld for pudding-seasoning. The orange-grate, if a strong flavour is wanted, may either be added in
substance, or infused, and the tincture strained and added to the marmamalde when boiling. Where marmalade is made in large quantities for exportation, the
various articles are prepared and put at once into a thin syrup, and boiled for from four to six hours, and potted in large jars. Orange-marmalade bay be thinned,
with apple-jelly, or when used at breakfast or tea, it may be liquefied extmpore with a little tea."
---Cook and Housewife's Manual, Mistress Margaret Dods, facsimile 1829 edition [Rosters Ltd.:London] 1988 (p. 434-5)
[NOTE: Mrs. Dods also provides recipes for Smooth orange-marmalade, Transparent orange marmalade, Lemon marmalade, Apple marmalade, and Apricot and plum jam marmalade.]

[1845]
"Genuine Scotch Marmalade. Take some bitter oranges, and double their weight of sugar; cut the rind of the fruit into quarters and peel it off, and if the marmalade
be not wanted very thick, take off some of the spongy white skin inside the rind. Cut the chips as thin as possible, and about half an inch long, and divide the pulp
into small bits, removing carefully the seeds, which may be steeped in part of the water that is to make the marmalade, and which must be in the proportion of a
quart to a pound of fruit. Put the cups and pulp into a deep earthen dish, and pour the water boiling over them; let them remain for twelve or fourteen hours, and
then turn the whole into the preserving pan, and boil it until the chips are perfectly tender. When they are so, add by degrees the sugar (which should be previously
pounded), and boil it until it jellies. The water in which the seeds have been steeped, and which must be taken from the quantity apportioned to the whole of the
preserve, should be poured into a hair-sieve, and the seeds well worked in it with the back of a spoon; a strong clear jelly will be obtained by this means, which
must be washed off them by pouring their own liquor through the sieve in small portions over them. This must be added to the fruit when it is first set on the fire.
Oranges, 3 lbs.; water, 2 quarts; sugar, 6 lbs. Obs.--This receipt, which we have not tried ourselves, is guaranteed as an excellent one by the Scottish lady from
whom it was procured."
---Modern Cookery for Private Families, Eliza Acton, facsimile 1845 edition [Southover Press:East Sussex] 1993 (p. 438)
[NOTE: Mrs. Acton also provides recipe for apple, apricot, bargerry, Imperatrice plum, orange (Portuguese receipt), clear (author's receipt), peach, pineapple (a new receipt), quince and quince & apple marmalades.]

"Marshmallows or Guimauves are a form of sweetmeat for which the confectioner is indebted to
the pharmacist. The original Pate de Guimauve was a pectoral remedy. It was made, as the name
implies, from a decoction of marshmallow root, with gum to bind the ingredients together, beaten
egg white to give lightness and to act as a drying agent, while sugar was incorporated to make the
whole palatable. Marshmallow has come down to us basically unchanged except that it no longer
contains extract of marshmallow. The marjority of marshmallows are made with egg albumen and
gelatin, some are made with all of one and none of the other..."
---Skuse's Complete Confectioner, 13th edition [W.J. Bush & Company:London] 1957
(p. 145)

"Marshmallows are one of the earliest confections know to humankind. Today's marshmallows
come in many forms, from solid...to semi-liquid---to the creme-like or as an ice cream topping.
Originally...marshmallows were made from the rood sap of the marsh mallow (Althaea officinalis)
plant. It is a genus of herb that is native to parts of Europe, north Africa, and Asia. Marsh
mallows grow in marshes and other damp areas...The first marshmallows were made by boiling
pieces of the marsh mallow root pulp with sugar until it thickened. After is had thickened, the
mixture was strained and cooled. As far back as 2000BC, Egyptians combined the marsh
mallow root with honey. The candy was reserved for gods and royalty.

Modern marshmallow confections were first made in France around 1850. This first method of
manufacture was expensive and slow because it involved the casting and molding of each
marshmallow. French candy makers used the mallow root sap as a binding agent for the egg
whites, corn syrup, and water. The fluffy mixture was heated and poured into the corn starch in
small molds, forming the marshmallows. At this time, marshmallows were still not mass
manufactured. Instead, they were made by confectioners in small stores or candy companies.

By 1900, marshmallows were available for mass consumption, and they were sold in tins as penny
candy. Mass production of marshmallows became possible with the invention of the starch mogul
system of manufacture in the late 19th century...

In 1955, there were nearly 35 manufacturers of marshmallows in the United States. About this
time, Alex Doumak, of Doumak, Inc., patented a new manufacturing method called the extrusion
process. This invention changed the history of marshmallow production and is still used today. It
now only takes 60 minutes to produce a marshmallow. Today, there are only three manufacturers
of marshmallows in the United States, Favorite Brands International (Kraft marshmallows),
Doumak, Inc. and Kidded & Company."

A sidebar to the information contained in this books (written by Donna R. Bearden) adds:
"In the early 20th century, marshmallows were considered a child's confection, dispensed as penny
candy at general stores along with licorice whips and peppermint drops. But through a fortuitous
connection with other popular foods and some clever marketing, marshmallows would soon
become a staple ingredient at pot-luck dinners, family get-togethers, and even elegant parties....A
perusal through twentieth-century cookbooks and recipe booklets reveals that marshmallows
usually served as an ingredient in cakes, candies, and desserts....Perhaps the greatest distinction
for marshmallows occurred as a result of their advantageous connection with gelatin salads and
desserts, which rose in popularity during the 1920s and 1930s. Recipe booklets for Jell-O and
Knox Gelatin from that time include recipes that called for marshmallows on almost every
page--recipes like banana fluff, lime mallow sponge, cocoa tutti frutti, and paradise pudding."
---How Products are Made Volume 3, Krapp & Longe, editors[Gale:Detroit] 1994 (pages
276-277).

[Ancient & Medieval Rome]
Ancient marshmallows were classed as medicine, not candy. Instructions for preparing the
plant for human consumption most likely first appeared in medical texts and herbals. Platina's "On
the Seasoning of Mallow" (On Right Pleasure, Book IV, section 8 [1475]) extols the healing
qualities of mallow but does not provide a recipe for making it.
If you want to make modern marshmallows using mallow plants check these recipes.

[1875]
"Marshmallow.This is a wholesome plant, and very palatable when boiled, and afterwards fried
with onions and butter. In seasons of scarcity, the inhabitants of some of the eastern countries
often have recourse to it as a principle article of food."

"Marshmallow water. A concoction of marshmallow is effacacious in the cure of severe coughs,
catarrhs, &c. Cut the roots into thin slices, and pour over them boiling water (about a pint to an
ounce of the root), cleansing and peeling off the outer skin before infusion. The water may be
flavoured with the squeezed juice and grated rind of an orange, and sweetened with honey or
brown sugar-candy. Marshmallow leaves are eaten dressed like lettuce, as a salad. Time, two
hours to infuse."
---Cassell's Dictionary of Cookery with Numerous Illustrations [Cassell, Petter,
Galpin:London] (p. 410)

[1908]
Marshmallows.--Cover an ounce of carefully picked gum arabic with 4 tablespoonfuls of
water, and let stand for an hour. Heat the gum in a double boiler until it is dissolved. Strain
through cheese cloth and while in about 3 1/2 ounces of Confectioners' XXX sugar. Place on a
moderate fire and beat for 3/4 of an hour, or until it comes to a stiff froth. Remove from the fire,
beat 2 or 3 minutes while cooling and stir in 1/2 teaspoonful vanilla. Dust a tin pan with
cornstarch, pour in the marshmallow, dust cornstarch over the top and set aside to cool. When
cold
cut into squares with a knife dipped in cornstarch, roll the squares in the starch and pack away in
tin or other tight boxes."
---Household Discoveries: An Encyclopedia of Practical Recipes and Processes, Sidney
Morse [Success Company:New York] (p. 538)

[1923]
Toasted marshmallows
1 tablespoon granulated gelatine
1 cup boiling water
1 cup sugar
whites 3 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Macaroons
Dissolve gelatine in boiling water, add sugar, and a soon as dissolved set bowl containing mixture
in pan of ice water; then add whites of eggs and vanilla and beat until mixture thickens. Turn into
a shallow pan, first dipped in cold water, and let stand until thoroughly chilled. Remove from pan
and cut in pieces the size and shape of marshmallows; then roll in macaroons with have beeen
dried and rolled. Serve with sugar and cream."
---Boston Cooking-School Cook Book, Fannie Merritt Farmer [Little Brown:Boston] (p.
523)
[NOTE: This book also has recipes for marshmallow cake with marshmallow cream (icing),
marshmallow chocolate cake, marshmallow frosting and marshmallow gingerbread. Marshmallow
hot chocolate recipe instructs the cook to place inexpensive marshmallows-- "they melt more
quickly"--in the bottom of a cup and pour the hot chocolate over them!.]

[1935]
Marshmallows
As a rule it is better and less costly to purchase marhsmallows than to try to make them. Here,
however, is a recipe should you desire to make them: Soak three ounces of gum arabic in one
cupful of water for two hours, cook in a double boiler until dissolved. Strain, return to saucepan,
and add one cupful of powdered sugar; stir until stiff and white. Add one teaspoonful of vanilla,
beat it in and pour the mixture into pans which have been rubbed over with cornstarch. Cut in
squares when cold and roll in cornstarch and sugar, in the proportions of three parts cornstarch to
one of sugar."
---Cooking Menus Service, Ida Baily Allen [Doubleday:Garden City] (p. 796)
[NOTE: This book has instructions for making a marshmallow doll (p. 799), and recipes for
marshmallow cream (cake filling), marshmallow cream sauce, marshmallow fondant icing,
marshmallow frosting, marshmallow fruit sauce, marshmallow fudge, marshmallow icing
(uncooked), marshmallow layer cake, marshmallow lemon cake and marhsmallow pumpkin pie.]

Pate de Guimauve
(Pate de guimauve was the French confection made from the roots.)
Take of decoction of:
marshmallow roots 4 ounces;
water 1 gallon.
Boil down to 4 pints and strain; then add
gum arabic 1/2 a pound;
refined sugar 2 pounds.
Evaporate to an extract; then take from the fire, stir it
quickly with:
the whites of 12 eggs previously beaten to a froth;
then add, while stirring.

Prior to that
marshmallow creme-type products were made by cooks at home. Many late 19th century
marshmallow paste recipes produced solid foods. The first spreadable marshmallow creme recipes
we find in American used store-bought marshmallows. This substance was used for cake filling.

The earliest mention we find of marshmallow creme in an American cookbook is from Fannie
Farmer's Boston School Cook Book, 1896:

Ms. Farmer does not give a recipe for Marshmallow Cream in this book (perhaps an oversight?).
She does give a recipe for Marshmallow Paste in the cake filling section:

"Marshmallow paste
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup milk
1/4 marshmallows
2 tablespoons hot water
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Put sugar and milk in a saucepan, heat slowly to boiling point without stirring, and boil six
minutes. Break marshmallows in pieces and melt in double boiler, add hot water and cook until
mixture is smooth, then add hot syrup gradually, stirring constantly. Beat until cool enough to
spread, then add vanilla. This may be used for both filling and frosting." (p. 435)

Sarah Tyson Rorer lists this recipe in 1902:

"Marshmallow filling.
Put a half pound of marshmallows and a quarter cupful of water in a double boiler over the fire.
Stir until melted. Take from the fire and our while hot into the well beaten whites of two eggs.
Add a teaspoonful of vanilla."
---Mrs. Rorer's New Cook Book (p. 627)

Marzipan
Food historians tell us marzipan, a paste composed of ground almonds
and sugar, probably originated in the Middle East and introduced to
Europe in the late Middle Ages. There is much scholarly debate regarding the etymology of this
word. Hense, the true origins are obscure. Marzipan is well documented from the Renaissance to
present. One of the special features of this particular confection is its ability to be
sculpted into fanciful shapes.

According to the British food historians, marzipan can be placed in England at the end of the 15th
century. This conclusion is drawn from documented print evidence. Certainly, words (as foods)
enter a culture before they are recorded in print. If you are interested in a detailed discussion on
the complicated history of the word "marzipan" ask your librarian to help you find "Venice and
the Spice Trade," Medieval Arab Cookery, Maxime Rodinson, A.J. Arberry & Charles
Perry [Prospect Books:Devon] 2001 (p. 211-3)

"Marzipan, a paste made from ground almonds, was orignally called marchpane in English--or
martspane, or mazapane, or marchpan. These were the best efforts English-speakers could make
at the word when it was borrowed, either via early modern French "marcepain" or from its
source, Italian "marzapane," at the end of the fifteenth century."
---An A-Z of Food and Drink, John Ayto [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2002 (p. 206)

"Marchpane, or marzipan was a discovery of the later Middle Ages, dependent as it was upon the
union of ground almonds with sugar...One of the earliest uses for the paste was in
subtleties.
These were figures of men, animals, trees, castles and so forth made from sugar paste and jelly,
and placed before an admiring audience at the end of each course of a great medieval feast. Often
the figures had an allegorical meaning, and bore written mottoes appropriate to the occasion. The
subtleties varied from simple depictions of a gilded eagle, or a swan upon a green stork, carrying
mottoes in their bills, to such complexities as a portrayal of the Trinity in the sun of gold with a
crucifix in His hand attended by saints and the kneeling figure of the new Archbishop of
Canterbury, for whose enthronement feast the subtlety had been made. When they had been
sufficiently applauded they were dismantled and eaten.
In the fifteenth century a marchpane began to emerge as an object in its own right. And by
Elizabeth I's reign, when the subtlety was becoming archiaic, a marchpane was regularly
produced as the chief showpiece at the banquet or dessert course served to guests at the end of a
meal.
It was made of ground almonds and sugar on a base of wafer biscuits, and was formed into a
round (a hoop of green hazelwood somethimes helped shape it). Ye may while it is moist, strike
it full of comfits of sundry colours, in a comely order...The frosting of the marchpane with sugar
and rosewater to make it shine like ice was an important part of the preparation; and so was the
gilding with decorative shapes in gold leaf..."
---Food and Drink in Britain From the Stone Age to the 19th Century, C. Anne Wilson
[Academy Chicago Press:Chicago] 1991 (p. 336-7)

[1660]
March-pane
"To make the best March-pane...lay it upon a fair Table, and strowing searft-sugar under it,
mould it like leaven, then with a rolling pin role it forth, and lay it upon wafers, washt with
Rose-water; then pinch it about the sides, and put it into what form you please, and so set it into a
hot stove, and there bake it crisply, and serve it forth."
---The English Hous-Wife, Gevase Markham [1660], Book 2, (p. 93)

[1753]
"To make March-pane
Take a pound of Jordan almonds, blanch and put to them three quarters of a pound of double
refined sugar, and beat them with a few drips of orange-flower water; beat all together till tis a
very good paste, then roll it into what shape you please; dust a little fine sugar under it as you roll
it, to keep it from sticking. To ice it, searce double refined sugar as fine as flour, wet it with rose
water, and mix it well together, and with a brush or bunch of feathers spread it over your
march-pane: bake them in an oven that is not too hot; put wafer paper at the bottom, and white
paper
under that, so keep them for use."
---The Compleat Housewife or, Accompish'd Gentlewoman's Companion, E. Smith,
facsimile 1753 edition [Literary Services and Production:London] 1968 (p. 173)

"To make March-pane unboiled.
Take a pound of almonds, blanch them and beat them in rose-water; when they are finely beaten,
put to them a half pound of sugar, beat and searched, and work it to a paste; spread some on
wafers, and dry it in an oven; when it is cold, have ready the white of an egg beaten with
rose-water, and double refined sugar. Let it be as thick as butter, then draw your march-pane
thro'it,
and put it in the oven: it will ice in a little time, then keep them for use. If you have a mind to have
your march-pane large, cut it when it is rolled out by a pewter-plate, and edge it about the top like
a tart, and bottom with wafer-paper, and set it in the oven, and ice it as aforesaid: when the icing
rises, take it out, and strew coloured comfits on it, or serve sweetmeats on it."
---ibid (p. 208)

[1753]
"To make common March-panes.
Take a sufficent Quantity of Almonds, which are to be scalded in hot Water, blanched, and
thrown into cold Water as they are done; then being wiped and drain'd, they must be beaten in a
Stone Mortar, and moistened with the White of an Egg, to prevent their turning into Oil. In the
mean while, having caused Half as much clarify'd Sugar as Paste, to be brought to its feathered
Quality, toss in your Almonds by Handfuls, or else pour the boiling Sugar upon them in another
Vessel: Let them be well intermixed, and the Paste continually stirred on all Sides. When it is done
enough, it must be laid upon Powder-sugar, and set by to cool Afterwards, several Pieces of a
convenient Thickness may be taken out, of which you are to cut your Marchpanes with certain
Moulds, gently slipping them off with the Tip of your Finger upon Sheets of Paper, in order to be
heated in the Oven only on one Side; that done, the other Side is to be iced over, and baked in like
Manner; otherwise the Paste may be rolled out, or squeezed through a Syringe, and made curbed,
or jagged, of a round, oval, or long Figure, in the Shape of a Heart, &c."
---The Lady's Companion, Sixth Edition, Volume II [London:J. Hodges] 1753 (p. 348)

[1749-1799]
"To make Machpane Cakes.
Take almonds & blanch them in warme water, then beat them very fine in a stone morter and put
in a little rose water to keepe them from oyling, then take the same weight in sugar as you doe of
almonds, & mingle it with them when they are beaten very small & short, onely reserveing some
of it to mould up the almonds with all. Then make them up in pritty thick cakes, & harden them in
a bakeing pan. The make a fine clear candy, & doe it over you marchpanes with a feather. Soe set
them in your pan againe, till the candy grow hard. Then take them out, & candy the other side.
Set them in againe, & look often to the them. Keepe a very temperate fire, both over & u[nder
them,] & set them in a stove todry."
---Martha Washington's Booke of Cookery and Booke of Sweetmeats, transcribed by
Karen Hess [Columbia University Press:New York] 1981 (p. 322)
[NOTE: this book contains more marzipan recipes and a wealth of notes regarding
marzipan/marchpane and period cooking. Your librarian will be happy to help you find a copy.]

Marchpane figured prominently in early wedding confections, according to Wedding Cakes
and Cultural History, Simon R. Charsley (your librarian can help you find a copy of this
book).

What are "Jordan Almonds?"Almonds yes, Jordan (the country) no. The practice of coating nuts and seeds for preservation purposes is
ancient. Think: Brittle. Colorful sugar-coated almonds surface in Medieval times and flourish in the "modern" era.
Recipes progressed via technology and time.

Why the name?
"The well-known varieties include Jordan (nothing to
do with the country of that name, but a corruption of the Spanish "jardin", meaning garden.)"
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p.
12)

"There are essentially two types of almond: bitter almonds, which contain prussic acid by can be used in very sparing quantities as
a flavoring, and ordinary eating almonds. Of the latter, Jordan almonds are probably the most highly regarded variety. Their long thin
shape may have inspired the comparison of oriental women's eyes to almonds. They have no connection whatsoever with Jordan (they are
mainly grown in Spain, in fact); their name is an alteration of Middle English jaren ('garden') almond."
---An A-Z of Food & Drink, John Ayto [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2002 (p. 4-5)

"Of the important Shelled Almonds, the best known are the Jordan and Valencia, chiefly from Malaga, Spain. Jordan Almonds are
long and plump and pointed at one end...They are highly esteemed both as a dessert item and for confectionery purposes."
---Grocer's Encyclopedia/Artemas Ward [1911] (p. 20)

When were Jordan Almond trees introduced to the USA? 1901
"The Department of Agriculture has at last succeeded in securing some Jordan Almond trees, in the exportation of which has been
rigorously prohibited by Spain for some years. The Government will now experiment with the trees to determine the best localities
for growing them. This species of almond is regarded by the agricultural authorities as the finest in the world, but only its
fruit has heretofore reached this country, the trees having been jealously guarded in Spain. The bush has been forwarded here
by the Agricultural Department's agent, who is seaching in Spain for rare plants."
---"Jordan Almond Trees Exported," New York Times, October 2, 1901 (p. 5)

"For many years it has been the ambition of California almond growers to produce Jordan almonds in that State. They did not get
on very well with their first attempts, but recently a nursery company doing business at Alameda imported some almond trees
from France, where Jordan almonds are rarely found, and from one of these trees some very good specimens of what were supposed
to be real Jordan almonds were produced. In order to find out whether they were real Jordans, the nursery company sent samples
to the United States Consul in Malaga...the were unhesitatingly declared to be almondra larga, of the famous Jordan almonds
of commmerce, of fair medium grade. The taste seemed quite the same, and there is a very little difference in the shape. A
surprising feature of this incident lies in the fact that the almonds in question are said to have been grown on a tree imported
from France...The report from California and the result of my investigation would indicate...that Jordan almonds can now be grown in California.
If this be true, California growers probably will find the matter will be worth their attention, as both the demand and the prices
for Jordan almonds have steadily increased during recent years. The present price of these almonds for the popular grade
known as confectioners' is $3.75 per box of twenty-five pounds at Malaga."
---"California Able to Raise Jordan Almonds," Los Angeles Times, April 29, 1902 (p. 7)

"The portability of comfits led to a gentler custom of handing them out as gifts. In 1702, Massailot mentioned placing on the
banquet table little baskets of dry sweetmeats decorated with ribbons: one for each guest, to be taken home and shared with the
family. it is echoed by the gift of 'favours', little bags of sugared almonds, to wedding guests in southern Europe. Not just wedding
guests: different colours of almond indicate different celebrations, a christening, an engagement, and anniversary (although some--
for instance graduations--may be inspired by modern marketing rather than long tradition)."
---Sugarplums and Sherbet: The Prehistory of Sweets, Laura Mason [Prospect Books:Devon] 2004 (p. 129)

"...sugared almonds, one of the oldest sweetmeats in history, do perhaps come from ancient Rome. Metz, Nancy, Paris, Verdun
and Toulouse are among the cities and towns of France famous for their sugared almonds. Earlier still, however, the Romans of classical
times distributed them at public and private ceremonies. Sugared almonds are mentioned amnong the gifts given to great men in accounts
of receptions...In fifteenth-century Cambrai, Marguerite of Burgundy, at her wedding to Guillaume IV of Hainault, wished to have
sugared almonds given 'to the common people by her comfit-maker Pierre Host...'"
---History of Food, Maguelonne Toussaint-Samat, translated by Anthea Bell [Barnes and Noble Books:New York] 1992 (p. 567-8)

"Mr. Salvatore Ferrara came to America from Nola, Italy, in 1900 and founded Ferrara Pan Candy Company in 1908. At the time of
his immigration from Italy, Mr. Ferrara was a confectioner, skilled in the art of making...sugar coated candy almonds. Sugar
coated candy almonds are otherwise knwon as "confetti" in Italy and other parts of Europe. These candy-coated almonds were also called
Jordan Almonds or almond dragees, and they continue to be a tradition at many weddings and celebrations. Early on,
then they were covered with white sugar, they were a candy that symbolized purity and fertility...From 1908 to 1919, the sugar
coated almond business grew. Mr. Ferrara was soon shipping his classic, always fresh and in-demand product all over the
Midwest."
---Candy: The Sweet History, Beth Kimmerle [Collector's Press:Portland OR] 2003 (p. 96)

Recipe, circa 1899:

"Prawlings, or Fried Almonds.--Take a pound of the best Jordan almonds, rub them very clean from the dust; take their weight
in loaf sugar, wet it with orange flower water, and boil it to a syrup; then throw the almonds into it and boil them to a candy,
constantly stirring until they are dry; then put them into dish and take away the loose bits and knobs which will be about
them; put the almonds into the preserving pan and set them on a slow fire until some of their oil comes from them into the
bottom of the pan."
---"Quaint Old Desserts," New York Times, May 28, 1899 (p. 23)

Mints
Ancient Greeks and Romans valued
mint for several medical reasons. Two of these were aiding digestion and freshening one's breath.
Throughout time, mint was used to flavor many differenty types of foods. Mint candies, as we know them
today, date back to Renaissance times (when sugar was readily available). Mint-flavored chocolate candies
date back to the second half of the 19th century (when solid chocolate was manufactured as candy.)The practice of pairing
lamb with mint capitalizes on mint's soothing digestive properties.

"Mint. The common name of most plants of the genus Mentha. There are two dozen species, and many
hundreds of varieties...The superstitions and beliefs associated with mint are often of ancient origin and vary
with different cultures...In Rome, Pliny recommended that a wreath of mint was a good thing for students to
wear since it was thought to 'exhilarate their minds'...Mints, usually spearmint, are used, fresh or dried, to
make jams, jellies, and sauces, to accompany meat, fish, or vegetable dishes...In England mint sauce is
served with roast lamb. Gerard (1633) wrote that 'the smell of mint does stir up the minde and the taste to a
greedy desire of meat'. Certainly the mint flavor is sweet and refreshing; and mint has digestive properties,
so the habit of taking an 'after-dinner mint' has some foundation."
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p. 508)

"Mint, aromatic plant of Europe and elsewhere. Mint was well known in classical Greece and in Roman
Italy, where, according to Pliny, it was a scent familiar at coutnry feasts. In Greece, however, mint is
seldome mentioned in the context of food and dining."
---Food in the Ancient World From A to Z, Andrew Dalby [Routledge:London] 2003 (p. 219)

"Mints. A colloquial English term from any small sugar confectionery item flavoured with mint, especially
boiled sugar sweets...Mint has a long therapeutic history as an aide to digestion and a breath
freshener."
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p. 508)

"Sugar was considered to have health benefits; it was also useful for preserving decoctions of herbs and
other physic such as flowers and roots. It made bitter herbs more palatable and, formed into candy, allowed
the slow release of soothing essences for sore throats and coughs. Recipes of this kind were probably the
ancestors of several sweets which have survived as regional specialties: cough candy, Kendal Mint Cake,
and Scottish tablet...It has a long precedent, and is a survivor of many other candied medicaments, most of
which have vanished. Cures for other ailments were sometimes administered in candy, as a recipe from A
Queens Delight shows: Sugar of Wormwood, Mint, Anniseed, or any other of that kinde. Take double
refined sugar; and do but wet it in fair water, or Rose-water and boil it to a candy, when it is almost boiled
takeit off and stir till it be cold; the drop in three or four drops of the Oyles of whatsoever you will make, and
stir it well, then drop it on a board, being before fitted with sugar.'...The qualities of mint as a digestive, and
the alternatives...suggest the recipe was intended to comfort the digestion. The recipe is an early published
example of the use of mint in sweetmeats in Britain. This flavour, not a distinctive feature of Polos, mint
imperials, spearmint gum, Glacier Mints and many others, appears to have become popular in the middle
of the last century. A factor may have been ready availability of good-quality mit oil from Mitcham in Surrey,
at a time when sugar confectionery was rapidly commercializing. Mint oil was reliable, probably relatively
cheap, and a strong flavour which was easy to handle, by small-as well as large-scale confectioners.
Candied peppermint was one of several simple mint-flavored confections given in a small, provincial book
in the1820s. Mint-flavored candy is still being made by a similar process to the seventeeth-century recipe
given above (but without the rosewater) and sold under the name of Kendal Mint Cake. Why this confection
should survive as a specialty of a small town in north-west England is not clear. The first record of an
association between product and town occurs in the mid-nineteeth century."
---Sugarplums and Sherbet: The Prehistory of Sweets, Laura Mason [Prospect Books:Devon] 2004
(p. 69-70)

"Mint was grown and pickled in vinegar by the Romans, who introduced the plant into England.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the herb was commonly grown in convent and monestary gardens
and used extensively in cooking and medicine. Mints, usually spearmint, are used, fresh or dried,
to make jams, jellies, and sauces, to accompany meat, fish, or vegetable dishes. The leaves are
also used to make teas, an Arab custom especially noticeable in North Africa...In England mint
sauce is served with roast lamb. Gerard (1633) wrote that the smell of mint does stir up the
minde and the taste a greedy desire of meat'. Certainly the mint flavour is sweet and refreshing
and mint has digestive properties, so the habit of taking an 'after-dinner mint' has some
foundation."
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p. 508)

"Mint is an aromatic herb that people have used since ancient times both as a condiment and as a
medicinal. It was highly valued by the ancient Hebrews, the Greeks, and the Romans, all of
whom used mint much more frequnetly than people do today. Mint was alluring, but at the same
time satisfying. The ancients considered it an aphrodesiac, yet also believed that it made women
sterile and men impotent."
---Nectar and Ambrosia: An Encyclopedia of Food in World Mythology, Tamra Andrews [ABC-CLIO:Santa Barbara] 2000 (p. 151)

"Lamb is a fatty meat, and most cuisines recognize the need for some kind of acid ingredient or
sauce to 'cut' this. In England, mint sauce, composed of chopped fresh mint, sugar, and vinegar,
has been the accepted accompaniement for roast lamb since the mid-19th century...Around the
North Mediterranean, including Spain, the Balkans and Greece, sauces for lamb are thickened
with egg yolks beaten up with lemon juice."
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p. 441)

"Lamb, Sauce for.--Mint sauce is usually served with lamb. To make it: Strip the leaves from
some fresh young mint, wash and dry them well, and chop them as finely as possible. Put them
into a tureen, and cover them with powdered sugar in the proportion of a table-spoonful of sugar
to one and a half of mint. Let these remain for half an hour, then pour over them three table-spoonfuls of vinegar. If after a trial this sauce is found to be too sweet, a less proportion of sugar
can be used; but it has been very generally approved when prepared as above. The vinegar is
sometimes strained from the mint-leaves before being sent to table. Time, a few minutes to
prepare. Probable cost, 3d. Sufficient for three or four persons."
---Cassell's Dictionary of Cookery with Numerous Illustrations [Cassell, Petter, Galpin &
Co.:London] 1875? (p. 360)

"Even though Pop Rocks' 30th anniversary officially fizzled out this Jan. 1, Spanish company Zeta Especial will continue to exploit its "explosive" retro candy
brand with promotions and licensing. Later this month, Pop Rocks will leverage the sixth season of American Idol with the launch of its I Want to Be a Pop
Rocks Star promo, in which kids write a song about their love of the popping candy and mail it in with two proofs of purchase. (Entrants don't have to show the
songwriting skills of Elvis Costello—winners will be chosen through a drawing.) Running through October and dangling special-edition Pop Rocks gear, the
sweeps will be marketed via print in kids mags such as Disney Adventures, radio promos, sampling, pr and ads on Web sites including Americanidol.com.
Freestanding store displays sporting an Idol-reminiscent blue oval will communicate the sweeps. The Steven Style Group, New York, is Pop Rocks' full-service
agency. Popping candy was an afterthought when a General Foods scientist attempted to invent instant soda with carbonized crystals that melt in water. That idea
never panned out, but his crystals became Pop Rocks, a candy that proved so popular in the '70s that kids were selling 15-cent packs for $1 or more on the candy
black market. The brand is still reeling from an urban legend in which Life cereal spokeskid Little Mikey's stomach purportedly exploded after he washed down
Pop Rocks with a Coke. (Mikey, aka John Gilchrist, is doing fine, thank you.). Originally sold in a cherry flavor, Pop Rocks is planning gourmet flavors like
pumpkin and candy cane, and cotton candy this year. The popping candy has been embedded in fruit rollups, sprinkled on Kellogg's cereals and served as subjects
for science experiments in a Klutz activity book. Additionally, the brand expects to launch a full licensing program in 2007 with apparel and other lifestyle
products."
---"The Biz: Pop Rocks Candy Recharged; OMG! OMG Gets Strategic," Brandweek, January 8, 2007
[NOTE: 2013 Zeta Especial is still making Pop Rocks. They are imported into the US by Pop Rocks In., Atlanta Georgia.
One retro unit of the original cherry flavor sells for $1.20/.33 ounce (p.5g) packet. 2013 product photo
here.]

"Sugar almonds. Almonds coated with a layer of fine sugar, as for dragees...Sugar almonds play
an
important role in rites of passage, particularly christenings and weddings, at which they are
offered as
symbols of good fortune. This custom is strong in France, Greece, Italy, other Mediterranean
countries, and
as far east as Iran and Afghanistan where they are known as noql...As a New Year offering they
are
supposed to ensure that the mouths and lives of the recipients will remain sweet for the whole of
the
coming year. Less sophisticated versions of almond dragees are sometimes made at home by
cooking
almonds, or other nuts, such as hazel, in sugar syrup and then stirring the mixture till it grains.'
The
almonds, with some of the sugar clinging to them, are separated and dried. Many 17th- and
18th-century
praline recipes are of this type."
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p.
766)

"Praline. A combination of almonds and boiled sugar, is a popular confection with a long history.
The name
is originally French, and the Dictionnarie de l'epicerie (1898) gives this definition"
Praline.--Bonbon forme
d'une amande rissole dans du sucre dont ell form ensuite le noyeay, et parfue it colore de diverse
manieres.' The important points in this definition are that it refers to almonds which are whole and
separate,
each covered with boiled, grained sugar. This remains the primary meaning of the word in modern
French.
According to the often-repeated but unverifiable legend dating back to the end of the 18th century
at least,
the name praline' is derived from the Duke of Plessis-Praslin (1589-1675). His cook is supposed
to have
invented a method for coating whole almonds in grained caramelized sugar, and later to have
retired to the
to produce the sweets commerically. Whatever the truth, pralines were well known, outside as
well as
inside France, but the 18th century, when recipes for Prawlins', or for Almonds Crisped'
appeared in
English cookery books. Borella (1770) observed that ;praline' is French Anglicized, as there is no
English
word to express the real idea of the French in this sort of preserving almonds.' Eventually,
however, praline,
like many other French culinary terms, became an adopted word in the English language. As an
English
word, praline now has the main meaning of a powdered nut-and-sugar confection, the nuts
commonly (but
not exclusively) used being almonds...In North America pralines are a specialty of several
southern states.
In Louisiana, especially New Orleans, the name applies to candies made with pecans in a coating
of brown
sugar which used to be sold by Creole women known as pralinieres."
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p.
631-2)

"Praline...The praline is a specialty of Montargis, where its inventor, Lassagne, who was chef de
bouche
(master of the household) to the Compte du Plessis-Praslin, came to retire. Legend has it that his
creation
came about this way: seeing a kitchen boy nibbling at leftovers of caramel and almonds, Lassagne
had the
idea of cooking whole almonds in sugar. The sweetmeat that resulted had a bread successs and
even, it is
said, contributed to certain diplomatic triumphs, for which the Compte du Plessis-Praslin, minister
to Louis
XIII and Louis XIV, took all the credit (he also gave his name to the sweets). Lassagne finally
retired to
Montargis in 1630 and there founded the Maison de la Praline, which exists to this day."
---Larousse Gastronomique, Completely updated and revised [Clarkson Potter:New York]
2001 (p.
934)

"We owe it [praline] to Lassagne...One day, in the servants' quarters of his residence at
Montargis,
Lassagne found his children caramelizing almonds almonds stolen from the kitchens. The
wonderful odour
emanating from the spot where the little cooks were at work gave away their guilty secret and its
delicious
results. His mouth watering, Lassagne promsed to keep quiet in exchange for some of the
sweetmeats. He
perfected the recipe and took it to the court of Louis XIII, where the confection became known
as prasline,
not that the duke himself had anything to do with inventing it. Another sotry holds that the reicpe
was the
result of clumsiness on the part of an apprentice, who dropped some almonds into caramel made
with
Gatinais honey. Whatever the truth of the matter was, Lassagne retired to Montargis and opened
a
confectioner's shop there, the Maison de la prasline, which still exits and is as good as a museum.
Praline is
made and sold at modern fairs in France, but the cheap sort contains peanuts instead of authentic
almonds."
---History of Food, Maguelonne Toussaint-Samat [Barnes & Noble Books:New York]
1992 (p. 569)

Jarrin's praline (prawling) recipes, circa 1825:

"No. 91.--Prawlings.
Everything is called a prawling, which is covered with dry sugar to preserve it from moisture, as orange flowers, lemon
peel, almonds, pistachios, &c.

"No. 92.--White Prawlings.
Boil your sugar to a feather (see No. 9), put in the fruit or almonds, and boil it to a crack, (see No. 11);
take it from the fire and work it with a spaddle [sic]...till the sugar becomes a powder, then throw the whole into a sieve to
take off the surplus of sugar; afterwards put the prawlings into a box for use."
---The Italian Confectioner; Or, Complete Economy of Desserts, facsimile Third edition, corrected and enlarged,
1827 Londonedition, William Alexis Jarrin [reprint on demand, Breinigsville, PA ISBN 9781146199803] 2010(p. 41-42)TE: this book also contains recipes for almond, pistachio, and orange-flower prawlings.]

Pralines in the USA

"Praline. A Confection made from almonds or pecans and caramel. It is a great favorite of the
South,
especially in New Orleans, and derives from the French preparation of praline, caramelized
almonds or
hazelnuts and sugar pounded into a fine, crumblike texture, Both terms come from the name of
French
diplomat Cesar du Plessis-Praslin, later duc de Choisuel (1598-1675), whose cook suggested that
almonds
and sugar aided digestion. The American Creoles substituted pecans for the almonds. The
confection is
first mentioned in print in 1715, and part of Louisiana food culture as early as 1762. The term had
various
meaning by 1809, when one chronicler told of pralines made from corn and sugar."
---Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New
York] 1999 (p.
255)

"Pralines. The word "Praline" is entirely associated in New Orleans with the delcious pink and
white sugar
cakes, made of cocoanut and sugar, or the brown ones, made of pecans and sugar, which are sold
by the
old Creole negro women of New Orleans. The "Pralinieres," as they are called, may always be
found in
Canal street, near Boubon or Royal, or about the entrance of Jackson Square, in the dim cathedral
alley, or
going about the streets of the Old French Quarter, selling their wares of an evening, when the
little Creole
children are taking an airing with their faithful old mammies. These little one always have a
"Picayune," or
five-cent peice, with which to buy a praline or a "La Colle," or a stick of "Candi Tire a la
Melasse."
---The Picayune's Creole Cook Book, second edition, facsimile 1901 reprint [Dover:New
York] 1970
(p. 375)
[NOTE: This book has more information about Creole candy and several praline recipes. Ask
your librarian
to help you find a copy.]

Food historians confirm coconut (aka cocoanut) has been a popular ingredient in American
foods from colonial days forward. Fresh, dried or dessicated, coconuts flavored American desserts.
19th century technological advances made cocoanut cheap and plentiful. Coconut candy recipes proliferated.
Our survey of historic newspapers suggest Sauerkraut candy originated in the northern American Midwest (Wisconsin, Iowa)
in the early 20th century. This region was home to great waves of Northern
European immigrants who enjoyed sauerkraut and sausages. An inexpensive novelty confection resembling beloved sauerkraut,
and promoted as such, makes perfect sense in this context.

End of story? Not quite. Enter: The Greek Factor. Our survey revealed two articles connecting a Greek confectioner with
Sauerkraut Candy. If you can shed light on this mystery we'd love to
hear from you!

"Try sauerkraut candy to make you thrive. Ten cents worth and you'll bet your money's worth."
---"The County Fair," Baltimore Sun, reprinted in the Ackely Word [IA], October 2, 1907 (p. 3)
[NOTE: the poem containing this line was published in several local newspapers about the same time.]

[1920s]
"Sauer Kraut Candy
This formula is for the candy sauer kraut which originated in the candy butcher shops. Unlike many novelties, it is not only a
fast selling piece, but also a piece possessing good eating qualities.
3 pounds sugar
6 pounds corn syrup
1 quart light New Orleans molasses
1/2 pound butter
1 spoonful salt
1 pint water
Place on fire and when batch boils add 8 pounds long shredded cocoanut. Continue to cook until the batch hangs together, then
pour batch into a greased sieve and allow the surplus syrup to drain from the cocoanut. Pour on slab to cool and flavor with a little
extract of vanilla and extract of lemon. Sell from pans, or pack in boxes and sell in that manner."
---Rigby's Reliable Candy Teacher, W.O. Rigby, [Rigby Publishing Company:Topeka KS] nineteeth edition (undated, maybe
1920s?) (p. 216-217)
[NOTE: A "candy butcher" was a young man who hawked cheap confections at popular events (circuses, fairs) for quick profit. Thomas Edison
was a "train butcher" in his youth.]

[1922]
"Sauerkraut Candy
Cook one pound of brown sugar and enough milk to moisten for about 5 minutes, stirring all the time, then add one quarter
pound coconut.--Jacob Achauer, route 7."
---Appleton Post-Crescent [WI], March 17, 1922 (p. 7)

[1924]
"D.K. Phoenix, Ariz., want to know how to make sauerkraut candy. Place two cups of brown sugar and half a cup of boiling water in
a saucepan and boil until a little will harden when dropped in cold water; remove from the fire, add enough grated cocoanut to make
a stiff paste, place on a buttered dish to cool."
---"Practical Recipes," A. L. Wyman, Los Angeles Times, March 8, 1924 (p. A6)

[1926]
"Fresh Sauer-Kraut Candy. This is a new confection. It is made of pure fresh cocoanuts, rich pure cream and creamery butter. We
have purchased this secret formula and have made arrangements to have fresh supply on on hand at all times. Special Introductory
Price 58 cents Per Pound."
---Alton Evening Telegraph [IL], February 19, 1926 (p. 16)
[NOTE: Why does this 1926 ad herald Sauer Kraut candy as a "new confection" when the 1925 snippet above proclaims it "old fashioned?"]

[1930]
"...the attractive box of sauerkraut candy on the desk in awaiting some some victim other than the intended one."
---"All Foods' Day Observance Is Lacking Here," Manitowoc Herald-News, April 1, 1930 (p. 13)
[NOTE: April Fools!]

[1970]
"Sauerkraut Candy Comes Back. Most youngsters never hear of Sauerkraut Candy, but oldsters know it well. The 'sauerkraut' is shredded coconuty and you team it with
penuche. Many grocery stores throughout the Midwest sold it from barrels during the Gay Nineties. It held its place in the sun until
World War I. Then for some reason it almost disappeared. Make it once and you may stage a revival, for this candy tastes
extra-good."Sauerkraut Candy
You can't miss with this combination of lots of coconut in penuche
2 c. light brown sugar, firmly packed
2 c. white sugar
1/4 c. light corn syrup
1 1/3 c. dairy half-and-half
1/4 c. butter (1/2 stick)
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 c. shredded coconut.
Combine sugars, corn syrup and half-and-half in 3-qt. heavy saucepan with buttered sides. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring until sugar
is dissolved. Continue cooking to the soft ball stage (238 to 240 degrees F.). Remove from heat; add butter and salt without
stirring. Cool to lukewarm (110 degrees F.). Add vanilla and beat until creamy; mixture loses gloss and becomes opaque. Fold in
coconut all at once. Pour onto buttered and chilled platter or into an 8" square pan. Cut in slices if thick or in 49 squares if
molded in pan. Makes about 2 1/4 pounds."
---Homemade Candy, Nell B. Nichols, Farm Journal Field Food Editor [Doubleday & Company:Garden City NY] 1970 (p. 58-59)

[1920s]
"Bologna Made of Candy
You can use cream scrap in this type if you desire; if you do, place in a kettle
30 pounds scrap
20 pounds corn syrup
Water to dissolve
Cook to 234 degrees F., add all the shredded cocoanut it will stand, then add a few blanched almonds or Brazil nuts to represent the
fat in the sausage. Also add chocolate to flavor and red color; do not use too much color but just so the batch will be a kind of reddish brown. Now pour
batch on slab and work into round rolls a little over two inches thick and about fifteen inches in length. It is necessary to have a heavy wire
suspended across your shop when you are making this piece. Have the wire up before starting batch. Now wrap the strips of candy bologna in heavy sheets of
wax paper; be sure to keep them round all the time, then tie up the end of the wax paper so that the whole sheet of oiled paper will keep
the bologna in the desired shape. Hang each of these pieces from the heavy wire and let them remain undisturbed for about twelve to
fifteen hours, then remove the wax paper and cut into slices of about a half inch in thickness. You will find this cuts very smoothly and
is nice eating. In cutting, cut on an angle just as butchers do, then your piece will still be more imitative. If yo do not wish
to use cream scrap in making this batch, use 20 pounds of sugar to 20 pounds of corn syrup, then proceed the same."
---Rigby's Reliable Candy Teacher, W.O. Rigby, [Rigby Publishing Company:Topeka KS] nineteeth edition (undated, maybe 1920s?)(p. 216)

Tablet (aka Scottish Tablet)
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the oldest print reference to tablet, in the confectionary sense, dates to 1736:

"Hence, orig. and chiefly Sc. (also taiblet), a type of fudge (formerly hardbake or almond toffee) made in tablets; a piece of this. 1736 MRS. MCLINTOCK
Receipts for Cookery 35 (heading) To make Orange Tablets with the Grate."

Why call it "tablet?" Etymology notes from the OED suggest this confection may have borrowed its name from medicinal origins. In the world of candy, this is common.

"Anglo-Norman tablet, tablett, tablette, tabelet, tabillet and Old French, Middle French tablete, Middle French, French tablette small slab or panel, smooth stiff
sheet (originally made of wax-covered wood) for writing on (both c1200 or earlier in Anglo-Norman; in later use chiefly in plural (compare sense 1b)), small slab
or panel bearing a painting or drawing (early 13th cent.), flat ornament made of precious metal or precious stone (a1376 or earlier in Anglo-Norman), table
diamond (mid 15th cent. in tablette de diamant; also diamant en tablette), medicine in the form of a small disc or lozenge (1564), food in the form of a small disc
or lozenge (1690), horizontal projecting course or moulding (1701) < table TABLE n. + -ete, -ette -ET suffix1. Compare also Old Occitan, Occitan tauleta
(late 12th-early 13th cent., originally in sense ‘castanet’), Catalan tauleta (first quarter of the 14th cent.), Spanish tableta (late 13th cent., originally denoting a
small plate in an astrolabe; probably < French), Portuguese tabuleta (15th cent. as taboletas, plural), also (in sense 3a) tablete (20th cent.; < French), Italian
tavoletta (1294), and Middle Dutch tafelet, tafelette, taffelet, taflet (Dutch tafelet)."

Laura Mason, British culinary expert, observes:
"...Scottish tablet, which is similar to a crisp version of fudge--brown, sugary, with a characteristic flavour derived from sugar and milk cooked together. A version was known in the eighteenth century when Lady Grisell Baillie recorded purchases of 'Taiblet for the bairns' in her household book between 1692-1733. Recipes for tablets flavoured with orange, rose, cinnamon and ginger were published in Glasgow by Mrs. McLintock in 1736. These are simple candy recipes, made only with sugar, water and flavourings. This is her recipe: "Orange Tablets with the Grate: Grate the Oranges, take 2 lib. of sugar, and a mutchkin of water, then clarify it with the White of 2 Eggs, and set it on a slow Fire, and boil it till it be almost candyed, then put in the Grate of the Oranges, and take your white paper, rub it with fresh Butter, pour it on your Paper, and cut in little pieces." This is a candy similar to those from the previous century. The word tablet has medicinal overtones, as in the commonly accepted meaning of a small flat disc containing some drug or health-giving substance...In tablet now made in Scotland, both orange and ginger are still found amongst the flavourings, but milk has become essential to the defiintion."
---Sugarplums and Sherbet: The Prehistory of Sweets, Laura Mason [Prospect Books:Devon] 1998 (p. 70-71)

Recipe circa 1829:

"Tablets and Confectionary Drops. A few receipts in this department may be useful in most families, as these things are cordial and sometimes even medicinal, and
may be easily and very cheaply prepared at home...To make cinnamon, lemon, horehound, or ginger tablet.--Take either oil of cinnamon, fine sifted China ginger,
essence or grate of lemon pounded, in the proportion wanted for flavouring the article to be made. Two drops of oil of cinnamon, a half-ounce of ginger, or the
grate of two lemons, is a medium quantity to a pound of sugar. Mix the flavouring ingredient very well with the boiling sugar, and pour it out when boiled
candy-height, on a marble slab or stone previously rubbed with sweet oil. Mark the tablet quickly in small squares with a roller and knife."
---Cook and Housewife's Manual, Mistress Margaret Dods, facsimile 1829 edition [Rosters Ltd.:London] 1998 (p. 440)

"Scots Tablets....(Traditional recipe)
Granulated sugar, thin cream or milk, flavouring.
Put into an enamelled saucepan two pounds of granulated sugar and three teacupfuls of thin cream or milk. Bring it gradually to the boiling-point, stirring all the time. Let it
boil a few minutes. Test as for toffee, but do not boil it so high. When it has reached the consistency of soft putty when dropped in cold water (about 245 degrees F.),
remove the pan from the fire. Add flavouring as below. Now put the pan into a basin of cold water and stir rapidly with a spoon. It soon begins to solidify round the edge,
and this must be scraped off repeatedly. Keep stirring until the mass is sufficently grained, and then pour it immediately on to a buttered slab. If too highly grained, it will
not pour out flat; if too thin, it will be sticky. Only practice makes perfection. When sufficienty firm, mark into bars with a knife, or cut into rounds with the lid of a circular
tin."
---The Scots Kitchen, F. Marian McNeill, originally published in 1929 [Mercat Press:Edinburgh] 2004 (p. 228)
[NOTE: Flavourings in this book include: Cinnamon, Coco-nut, Fig, Ginger, Lemon, Orange, Peppermint, Vanilla, Walnut.]

[18th century]
"To Candy Any Flowers Fruits or Spices with Ye Rock Candy
Take two pounds of barbary sugar, great grayned, and clarefy it with ye whites of 2 eggs, and boyle it
allmoste to the height of Manus Christi. Then put your flowers, fruits or pieces, & then put your pipkin into
A still, and make A litle fire of small cole or charcole under it. And in the space of 12 days your fruit,
flowers, or spice will be rock candied."
---Martha Washington's Booke of Cookery, transcribed by Karen Hess [Columbia University Press:New
York] 1995 (p. 279)
[NOTE: Ms. Hess adds these notes..."This is a recipe in which I have little confidence; it is effectively
sugar candy with flowers..."]

[1845]
"Lemon Candy or Rock Candy--To one pound of loaf sugar, put a large cup of water, and set it over a slow fire for half an hour. Clear it with a little warmed vinegar. Take off the scum as it rises.
Try when it is done enough, by dipping a spoon in it and raising it; if the threads thus formed snap like glass, it is done enough. Then pour it out into a tin pan that has been buttered; when nearly cold, mark it in narrow strips with a knife.
Before pouring it into the pans, chopped cocoa nut, almonds, or picked hickory nuts may be stirred into it. Brazil nuts, taken from the shells, cut in slices, and added
to it, are very good."
Housekeeper's Assistant, Ann Allen

[1875]
"Rock.--Under this name flourishes a kind of sweetmeat composed of sugar, and sometimes mixed with almonds and various flavours.
The sugar is first of all boiled, then it is poured out on a cold marble slab, and worked up into a rough mass. The name 'rock'
is also give to another kind of sweetmeat, in which the sugar whilst hot and soft is repeatedly pulled over a smooth iron hook,
until it becomes white and porous. This rock is flavoured in various ways." (p. 762)

"Rock or Candy.--Put a pound of loaf sugar into a saucepan with a tea-cupful of water, and stir it until it has dissolved, add
a spoonful of vinegar to clear it, and carefully remove the scum. Have ready a shallow tin rigged over with butter. When sugar is boiled
sufficiently, stir into it sliced almonds, chopped cooca-nut, or Brazil nuts shelled and cut in slices, and pour it into the tin to the
thickness of half or a quarter of an inch. If preferred, the nuts, &c., may be left out, and the rock may be simply marked
caross with a knife when it is almost cold. In order to ascertain when the sugar is done enough, dip a spoon into it, and raise
it. If the threads thus formed snap like glass, it is ready." (p. 763)
---Cassell's Dictionary of Cookery with Numerous Illustrations [Cassell, Petter, Galpin & Co.:London] 1875

[1879]
"For our Rye and Rock Candy [Reliable for all throat and lung complaints] we use only Bumgardner's Virginia Rye Whisky and
finest string Rock Candy, $1 per bottle.--H.B. Kirk & Co., 69 Fulton St and 709 Broadway"
---classified ad, New York Times, January 13, 1879 (p. 5)
[NOTES: this is the earliest print reference we find combining rock candy and string. April 19, 1879 we find articles referencing
a lawsuit againt this company and product as unsafe. It describes the item as rye whisky dissolved into rock candy. In 1882 we find ads
for "Rock Candy Cough Cure," marketed to people suffering from consumption.]

[1880]
"Dryden & Palmer of Norwalk, Connecticut, has manufactured rock
candy since 1880 and claims to be the only company still doing so."
---Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New York 1999 (p. 274-5)
[NOTE: Dryden & Palmer still exists: company history.]

[1901]
"75. Rock Candy
Boil an given quantity of loaf sugar, granulated or other, to the feather; the pour it into any vessel in which threads may
run accoss. Put into a warm place and allow it to remain five or six days. When crystallization has ceased, pour off the remaining
syrup and rinse out the inside with cold water, and put back into the drying room or within the screen to further dry. To color it,
use a carmine, saffron or blue. The first two are most admired. Special kettles, provided with holes for passing the strings
through, are sold by the makers of confectioners' tools. These holes are covered with paper, pasted on to prevent the syrup from going
through. The object of the strings is to hasten the crystallization."
---The Candy Maker: A Practical Guide, Excelsior Library, No. 64, c. 1901 [Excelsior Publishing House:New York] 1901, issued
quarterly since March 3, 1896 (p. 532-533)

[1929]
"[sugar] reaches us in a variety of forms, either in lumps, as crystals, in powder form or crystallized on strings in the form
of rock candy."
---"The story of sugar," Simpson Daily Leader-Times [Kittanning PA], January 23, 1929 (p. 7)

[1956]
"First graders at Southside are making 'rock candy.' Finding the recipe in their Weekly Reader, they mixed their sugar solution and
placed it in glasses. They are witingfor the rock-like crystals to form. Many of the chilren have sent in their subscriptions for the
summer Weekly Reader."
---"Grade School News," Oelwein Daily Register [IA], May 5, 1956 (p. 13)

[1958]
"A California reader reports that he has made a fruitless search of cook books and public libraries for a recipe for
old-fashioned rock candy...Mrs. Ruth P Casa-Emellos, The New York Times home economist, explains that rock candy is simply
sugar evaporated into large crystals or crystalline masses. The necessary ingredients are a supersaturated sugar solution, a pices of
string and plenty of time. To make rock candy, the home economist suggests boiling two cups of sugar in one cup of water to
242 degrees F. on a candy thermometer or until a bit of the solution, dropped into cold water, forms a soft ball. Remove the colution from
the heat, allow it to cool, then pour it into an earthenware or glass container. Suspend a string into the solution, first tying one end to a
strip of wood that can be rested across the mouth of the container. Or, insert a long, clean twig into this solution. The string
or twig is necessary so that the sugar crystals will have something to which htey can cling as they form. All that is left to do is to
wait, and it is only fair to warn that it will be a long wait. It wil take several weeks before all the liquid has evaporated and the
crystals have formed into rock candy. The rock candy can be crystal clear or it can be tinted in delicate hues by adding a few
drops of food coloring to the hot liquid."
---"Food: Letter Box, Recipe for Rock Candy is Offered...," New York Times, February 8, 1958 (p. 13)

Our survey of early American recipes confirms rum was a popular baked goods ingredient. This
particular spirit, like its cousins brandy, port and madeira, served double duty as food flavoring and preservative agent.
The difference between the old recipes and today's products? Method. Traditional colonial/early American products
featuring alcoholic ingredients were baked. Contemporary American Rum Balls are not. While it is totally possible rum ball-type
recipes have been around for hundreds of years, we have no print proof. All historic points on the culinary history
compass place rum balls in the mid-20th century.

"There was one other liquor-accented sweet recipe that swept the country in the Sixties and
that was bourbon or rum balls. Because they involved no cooking and were based on
ultrafashionable graham cracker or cookie crumbs, nuts, and alcohol, bourbon balls were the
perfect sweet morsel of the era. The were, and are, addicting...These little cookie confections
are usually reserved for the Christmas season."
---Fashionable Food: Seven Decades of Food Fads, Sylvia Lovegren [Macmillan:New York]
1995 (p. 257)
[NOTE: This book contains a recipe for rum balls.]

The basic ingredients for taffy/ toffee were readily available to European cooks during the Roman
occupation. Treacle (a uncrystalized syrup produced during sugar refining) was routinely employed
to make cakes and gingerbread during the Middle Ages. Karen Hess notes treacle was considered
to have medicinal value, which explains why it became the sweetener of choice during these times.
(Martha Washington's Booke of Cookery, transcribed by Karen Hess [p. 200-1]). C. Anne
Wilson
confirms "Molasses was rather slow in coming into general use as a sweetener, due perhaps to the
influence of the apothecaries and treaclemongers." (Food and Drink in Britain From the Stone
Age to the 19th Century [p.304]). Northern European cooks typically used butter [rather than
oil] for cooking because it was readily available.

"Taffy. A confection made from sugar, butter, and flavorings that has a chewy texture obtained by
twisting and pulling the cooked ingredients into elasticity. The British term for such candy is
toffee or toffy, possibly from tafia, a cheap West Indian rum made from molasses and used
originally to flavor candy. The Oxford English Dictionary notes that taffy...seems to refer
to an older form of the candy. By the 1870s taffy bakes and taffy pulls, at which young people would
gather to stretch the candy between them, had become social occasions."
---The Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani
[Lebhar-Friedman:New York] 1999 (p. 321)

"In the 1840s...candy pulls became popular, being called taffy pulls by the late 1870s, when taffy
also came to be a slang word for flattery. Taffy (British toffee) was simple to make, from
molasses or brown sugar and butter, and the taffy pulls entertained young and old alike and were
a suitable face-to-face pastime for courting couples. Salt water taffy became associated with the
Atlantic City Boardwalk by the 1880s, and the box of neatly wrapped pastel rows of taffy became
its typical souvenir."
---Listening to America, Stuart Berg Flexner [Simon & Schuster:New York] 1982 (p.
138)

Taffy/toffee recipes
In 19th century American and British cookbooks, the names toffee and taffy appear to be used
interchangeably to denote similar recipes. This confection also sometimes masked as "molasses
candy" or "pulled molasses candy." Some of these recipes instruct the cook to "pull" the candy,
others simply to cut it in small squares. Some refer specifically to "Everton Toffie," named for a
town near Liverpool, England.

[1845]
"Everton Toffie
No. 1:--Put into a brass skillet or small preserving pan three ounces of very fresh butter, and as soon as it is just
melted add a pound of brown sugar or moderate quality; keep these stirred gently over a very clear fire for about fifteen
miutes, or until a little of the mixture, dropped into a basin of cold water breaks clean between the teeth without sticking
to them: when it is boiled to this point it must be poured out immediately, or it will burn. The grated rind of a lemon, added
wehn the toffie is half done, improves it much; or a small teaspoonful of powdered ginger moistened with a little of the other
ingredients as soon as the sugar is dissolved and then stirred to the whole, will vary it pleasantly to many tastes. The Real
Everton toffie is made with a much larger proportion of butter, but it is the less wholesome on that very account. If dropped upon
dishes first rubbed with a buttered paper, the toffie when cold can be raised from them easily.
Butter, 3 oz.; sugar, 1 lb.; 15 to 18 minutes. Or sugar, 1 lb.: butter, 5 oz.; almonds, 2 oz.: 20 to 30 minutes.
---Modern Cookery for Private Families, Eliza Acton, facsimile 1845 edition with an introduction by Elizabeth Ray [Southover Press:
East Susse] 1993 (p. 469)

[1847:USA]
"Molasses Candy (Taffy)...Put a pint of common molasses in a stewpan, over a slow fire,
let it
boil, stir it to prevent its running over the top, or if necessary, take it off; when it has boiled more
than half an hour try it, by taking some in a saucer; when cold, if it is brittle and hard, it is done;
flavor with lemon, sassafras, or vanilla, and pour it quarter or half an inch deep in buttered tin
pans. Shelled peanuts, (ground nuts) or almonds may be stirred into it, enough to make it thick, or
but a few. Molasses candy may be made a light color by pulling it in your hands, having first
rubbed them over with a bit of butter, to prevent the candy sticking to them, during the
process."
---Mrs. Crowen's American Lady's Cookery Book, Mrs. T. J. Crowen [1847] (p.
341-342)

[1861:UK]
"To Make Everton Toffee
Ingredients.--1 lb. of powdered loaf sugar, 1 teacupful of water, 1.4 lb. of butter, 6 drops of essence of lemon.
Mode.--Put the water and sugar into a brass pan and beat the butter to a cream. When the sugar is dissolved add the butter, and
keep stirring the mixture over the fire until it sets, when a little is poured on to a buttered dish; and just before the toffee is
done, add the essence of lemon. Butter a dish or tin, pour on the mixture, and when cool, it will easily separate from the dish.
Butter[Scotch, an excellent thing for coughs, is make with brown instead of white sugar ommitting the water, and flavoured with 1/2
oz. of powdered ginger. It is made in the same manner as toffee.
Time.--18 to 35 minutes. Average cost, 10 d.
Sufficiently to make a lb. of toffee."
---Mrs. Beeton's Book of Household Management, Isabella Beeton, abridged 1861 edition edited by Nicola Humble [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2000 (p. 313)

[1861:USA]
Taffy
3 lb. sugar
1 pint water
1/2 tsp. citric acid
Juice of 3 lemons OR 4 oranges
Butter (for pans)
Three pounds of sugar dissolved in a pint of water, in which half a teaspoon of citric acid has been
dissolved; remove the scum as fast as it rises. Boil until it will crack when dropped in cold water;
remove from the fire, and add the juice of three lemons or four oranges. Mix it well and boil very
gently, until it is as hard as before the lemon was added; pour it in square buttered pans. It should
be about an eighth of an inch thick when cold. Before it hardens mark it off neatly in small blocks
that it may break regularly.
--- Civil War Cooking: The Housekeeper's Encyclopedia, Mrs. E. F. Haskell, 1861.

[1875:UK]
"Toffee.
Melt three ounces of fresh butter in a small brass saucepan over a clear, bright fire. As soon as it is dissolved, stir into it one pound good brown sugar, and
keep stirring until it is done enough. In order to ascertain when this point is reachedd, let a cup of cold water be placed close at hand, and keep dropping
a little of the toffee into it. When the toffee thus dropped hardens immediately, and breaks between the teeth without sticking to them it is done, and
must be poured out at once or it will burn. The flavour of this toffee may be pleasantly varied by stirring into it a teaspoonful of slightly moistened powdered
sugar, or the grated rind of one lemon. Pour the toffee upon a buttered dish, and put it in a cool place to set. Time to boil, fifteen to twenty-five minutes. Probable
cost, this quantity, 8d."
---Cassell's Dictionary of Cookery with Numerous Illustrations [Cassell, Petter, Galpin & Co:London] 1875 (p. 980)
[NOTE: Book also includes recipes for Almond Toffee (p. 980) and Everton Toffee (p. 205).]

[1890s:UK]
"Plain Toffee.
14-lbs. White Sugar
1/2 oz. Cream of Tartar
2 Quarts Water
Process: This is an easy and sapital recipe to begin with. The process is practically the sanme as for all other clear goods, but the ingredients being few there is
little chance of their getting complicated. If the reader has a thermometer it is hardly possible to make a mistake, besides it will make the instructions more
intelligible; should he not possess this appliance, we must as that the instructions 'How to Boil Sugar', should be committed to memory, as it would be tedious
and a great waste of time and space to keep explaining how to tell they different degrees through which the sugar passes before it comes to the point requred for the
different goods given in this book For this and other reasons I will assume the learner to be working with one. Put the sugar and water in a clean pan place it on the
fire and stir it occasionally till melted; when it comes to a boil, add the cream of tartar and put a lid on the pan; allow it to boil in this way for ten minutes remove
the lid and immerse the bottom part of the thermometer in the boiling liquid and allow it to remain in this position until it records 310 degrees, then quickly take out
the thermometer, lift off the pan and pour contents into frames, tines, or on a pouring plate, which have been previously oiled. If on pouring plate, mark the boil
into bars or squares while warm with a knife or toffee cuter; when quite cold, it is ready for sale."
---Skuse's Complete Confetioner, 7/6 [W.J. Bush & Co.:London] 1890s (p. 23)
[NOTES: (1) This is a professional confectionery text. (2) Additional toffee flavors include lemon, Everton, Fig, Walnut, Barcelona & Cocoanut. Butter Scothch, Eggsa and Bacon
and Stick Jaw are also classed as Toffees.]

[1936:UK]
"Treacle Toffee
Put a 1/4 lb. of fresh butter into a tinned saucepan, and when partially melted add 1/2 lb. of treacle and 1/2 lb. or Demerara sugar, and mix well together. Boil for
8 to 10 minutes, then test it by dropping a little in cold water. If it immediately hardens and is brittle, pour all on to a buttered dish. Before it is hard it can be
marked into squares with the back of a knife, and it will then break evenly. If liked, almonds can be pressed in before the toffee hardens. Toffee can be pulled until it
is any desired light colour, or even white. It is then, while soft, made into rolls or sticks about half an inch thick, and cut into short pieces with scissors."
---Cookery Illustrated and Household Management, Elizabeth Craig [Odhams Press:London] 1936 (p. 459)

About salt water taffy
Salt water taffy is popularly
attributed to Fralingers, on the Atlantic City NJ boardwalk, 1883.
Our survey of historic newspaper articles reveals there were several claimants to the origination of
this seaside treat. Not surprisingly? The issue became a matter of court record.

"Mr. Fralinger retired from business several years ago. Though he was widely known as the 'Salt Water Taffy King,' the claim that he
was the originator of the taffy has been disputed. He was one of the first to manufacture it however, and probably did more than
anybody else to popularize it."
---"Joseph Fralinger Dies," New York Times, May 14, 1927 (p. 19)

"Fralingers,'s Inc., the oldest original business on the Boardwalk, has been making and selling saltwater taffy since 1885 at the
same location, Tennessee Avenue and the Boardwalk, where Joseph Fralinger set up his stand a century ago. Mr. Fralinger did not create
saltwater taffy, but he was, by all accounts, its most successful merchandiser...According to Arthur H. Gager 3d...the founder of the family business
first took note of taffy in a letter to a relative, written in 1883 in which the candy was referred to as 'Ocean Wave,' 'Sea Foam,'
and 'Salt Water Taffy.' How it got the name saltwater taffy is a pleasant Atlantic City fable. It is said that a Mr. Cassidy and
a Mr. Bradley--nobody knows for sure--had a taffy stand and that one night a northeaster hit the Boardwalk, overturning
everything and washing the sea over his stock. The next day a girl came by, tasted a piece of the candy and asked, 'Is this
saltwater taffy?'...Mr. Gager says is that the name was coined 'simply because of the proximity of the water to the Atlantic
City beach and the Boardwalk.'"
---"100 Years the Tons of Taffy Later...," Fred Ferretti, New York Times, June 12, 1985 (p. C3)

Who were the other contenders & what was the outcome of the legal battle?
"About sixty years ago a man had a small candy store on the Atlantic City waterfront--which, in those remote days, had no grand
Boardwalk, as it now has, raised many inches above the sea. One morning when he opened up for business he found that a recent hight
tide had flooded his stock during the night. 'As he stood tearing his hair, a little girl came in with some pennies in her hand.
'Please, sir, half a pound of taffy,' she said. 'Here's some salt water taffy,' groaned the storekeeper, handing her a package of
sea-soaked candy. Munching delightedly, she returned to her parents on the beach. 'It's salt water taffy,' she said: the man told
me so.' They started munching also, with a delight equal to hers. 'The candy merchant's mother happened to witness the scene. At
once an idea sprang, full-fledged, into her brain. She rushed to her son's flooded shop. 'When you make your next batch of candy,
mix it with salt water!' she told him.'He did. Others did..."
---"Topics of the Times, New York Times, October 25, 1947 (p. 18)

"John Ross Edmiston Sr.,...claimed to have originated 'saltwater taffy,'...Mr. Edmiston, born at Tyroe, Pa., was graduated from
Lebanon (Pa.) Business College and had been a penmanship teacher. He used the name of salt water taffy shortly after he
opened a confectionery store in Atlantic City in 1884. Mr. Edmiston first opened his shore store at the ocean end of the boardwalk
at South Carolina Avenue. He had been making the candy for some time when his customers insisted that he give it a name. One day,
the sea splashed into his stand, wetting a quantity of the candy which was cooling on a slab. Fearful lest the salt water had ruined
his batch, Mr. Edmiston found that the water had not penetrated into the candy and the thought struck him to call it 'salt water
taffy.'"
---"John Ross Edmiston Sr. Claims He Was Originator of 'Salt-Water Taffy...'", New York Times, Septebmer 18, 1939 (p. 24)

"With millions at stake in royalties and the future of their industry in jeopardy, about 500 candy manufacturers in this country,
chiefly along the Atlantic seaboard, have won the right, after months of litigation, to continue using the trademark 'salt
water taffy.' The decision was given by the United States Supreme Court. The right to exclusive use of the trademark was
claimed by John R. Edmiston of Wildwood, N.J. in 1923. He contended he was the originator and the only one to manufacture
'salt water taffy' for ten years prior to 1905. His petition for registration of the trade-mark was granted by the United States
Patent Office officials. Edmiston then notified all other manufacturers of the confection to cease using the trade-mark and served
notice that he would collect royalties on all taffy made since 1895. These royalties would have run into millions. The fisght for the
confectioners was made by James Brothers of this city, beginning in August, 1924, resulting in a decision that the term 'salt water taffy'
cannot be registered."
---"'Salt Water Taffy' Makers Win Fight Against Patent," New York Times, March 30, 1925 (p. 19)

"Candy interest are following with close attention a temporary victory for manufacturers who contend that John R. Edmiston of Wildwood,
N.J., has not the exclusive right to use the trademark 'Salt Water Taffy.' The examiner for interferences of the Patent Office
has ruled that Mr. Edmiston is not entitled to sole use of this trade name. When Mr. Edmiston filed application for his trade mark some
years ago, the Patent Office decided that the name was 'descriptive' and therefore he would have to apply under a proviso that for
ten years previous to 1905 he had, to the best of his knowledge and belief, been entitled to the trade name. Under such an
application thirty days are left open for any one to file an opposition, but this was not done. Under a proviso, however, contendants
may at any time apply for a cancellation of the registration, and this application has been made by James Brothers of Atlantic
City, representing a large number of candy manufacturers. The examiner for interferences now has ruled against Mr. Edmiston. The
latter has until April 15 to appeal from this decision to the Commissioner of Patents...The Edmiston appeal has not yet been
filed."
---"Denies Sole Right to 'Salt Water Taffy,'" New York Times, April 12, 1925 (p. 13)

We also found this tasty Prohibition-era tidbit:
"Ocean City's fifth candyless Snday since the enforcement of Lord's Day regulations, was ameliorated today by the free distribution
of 1,000 boxes of salt water taffy to confectionery-hungry excursionists. John C. Funk, manager of the Arcadia restaurant, staged
the candy barbecue. The situation was further relieved when Willian F. Shriver and J. Frank Shellenhberger...dispensed ice
cream and soda water for the first time on Sunday since the blue ordinance was enforced. Since that time they had kept their
places closed on Sunday."
---"Ends Candyless Sundays: Restaurant Man Gives Free Taffy in Blue-law Town," New York Times, July 30, 1923 (p. 4)

Process.--Melt the sugar in the water by an occasional stir when the pan is on the fire, then add
the cream of tartar and boil up to 300; lift the pan on to the side of the furnace and add butter in
small pieces broken off by the hand; slip the pan on the fire again adding the lemon falvor; let it
boil through, so that all the butter is boiled in, then pour into frames; when partly cold, mark the
cutter into small squares; when cold, divide the squares; wrap each in wax paper, then tinfoil; sold
generally in 1/2 d, 1 d, and 3d packets, the latter containing 6 halfpenny pieces. N.B.--There is
good butter scotch and better butter scotch, but no bad butter scotch; this quality may be
imporved by the addition of a larger proportion of butter..."
---Skuse's Complete Confectioner [London] (p. 24)

Boil first five ingredients until, when tried in cold water mixture will become brittle. When
nearly done, add butter, and just before turning into pan, vanilla. Cool, and mark in squares."
---Boston Cooking-School Cook Book, Fannie Merritt Farmer

Put sugar, corn syrup, and water in a saucepan, stir until is dissolved, bring to boiling point, and
boil to 280 degrees F., or until it cracks in cold water. Add butter and salt, and boil to 290
degrees F., or until it reaches the hard crack when tried in cold water. Remove from fire, flavor
with oil of lemon, and pour out between bars on slightly moistened slab, mark the squares, and
bread up when cold."
---The Candy Cook Book, Alice Bradley [Little, Brown:Boston] 1929 (p. 128)
[NOTE: This book also has recipes for Butterscotch Wafers, Cream Butterscotch Balls (or
Scotch Kisses, Cream Butterscotch With Nuts (walnuts or pecans), and Chocolate Butterscotch
Creams]

"Caramel is sugar which has been cooked until it turns brown. The word caramel is a
comparatively late introduction into English: it is first recorded in 1725. It came via French from
Spanish caramelo, but its previous history is speculative; its most likely source is perhaps late
Latin calamellus, a diminutive form of Latin calamus, 'reed, cane' (the implied reference being to
'sugarcane'). The sweets caramels, a soft form of toffee, are made with sugar and milk, butter, or
cream."
---An A-Z of Food and Drink, John Ayto [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2002 (p. 57)

"The five terms--lisse or smooth, pearl, blow, feather, and casse or break--remained
standard [confectionery terms] during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. They were split
into lower' and higher', which then became regarded as degrees in their own right. The term
caramel was added. Confusingly for the modern reader, this indicated the degree just
before the sugar begins to colour. It is now regarded as the hard crack stage. Such attention to
detail implies that confectionery became very accomplished during the eighteenth century, but,
despite this, written instructions were often inconsistent and blase...Confectioners remained
circumspect about boiling sugar higher than feather...Higher degrees came into use gradually. In
the sixteenth century, only apothecaries were confident with them. In the next, Rose translated
one recipe which required sugar boiled to casse or break. In the eighteenth, sugar boiled to the
highest degree, grand casse, or caramel, had a limited use. Massailot said that
caramel was proper for Barley-sugar and certain small Sugar-works call'd by that name.' His
compatriot J. Gilliers, writing in 1751, described caramel as sugar boiled to casse. It was
coloured, and used for figures to decorate the table. Other confectioners used caramel for
decorative purposes and do not seem to have made many boiled-sugar sweets of the type now
familiar. Only at the beginning of the next century did Jarrin make it clear that he included
browned sugar in the term caramel."
---Sugar-plums and Sherbet: The Prehistory of Sweets, Laura Mason [Prospect
Books:Devon] 2004 (p. 57-60)

"Toffee recieved a boost in the 1880s when caramels, a North American innovation, were
introduced. Caramels relied
on slowly boiled sugar and milk to give a delicious flavour. Skuse wrote that these sweets were
sold very freely on the
lowest and poorest quarters of London, at two-pence per ounce; in the West End the same goods
fetch double that price.'
They were also suitable for mass production. Coconut oil substitutes were developed to replace
the dairy products, and
automatic stirrers replaced human endeavour at the boiling pan. Confectioners began experiments.
In 1890 John
Mackintosh opened a shop in Halifax. Shortly afterwards, he created Mackintosh's Celebrated
Toffee, drawing both on
English toffee and American caramel formulae."
---Sweet and Sweet Shops, Laura Mason [Shire Publications:Buckinghamshire] 1999 (p.
18-9)

What did British confectioners think of American caramels at the turn of the 20th
century?
"Caramels. When first brought over from America, these goods were certainly a treat. The were
rather dear, but they
were good; the public appreciated them. Very soon the demand was universal, then competition
stepped in with the
usual result--the prices lowered, the quality suffered, until anything cut into the shape were called
caramels.
Consequently, the demand lessened; still they were forced on the market cheaper and cheaper,
worse and worse, until
only those who liked plenty of money bought the vile concoctions. The very name has almost
become a synonym for
rubbish. However, several makers had kept up the standard of excellence, so that only those
which are identified by a
particular brand or name find favour with the retail shopkeepers who study the interest of their
customers, but the
mischief has already been done to the great bulk of the general trade; the public has lost
confidence, and are afraid to buy
that which they woudl like, having so often got that which they did not like, bearing the same
name and having the same
appearance as their former favorites. To remedy this state of things as far a possible, we
recommend the making of an
excellent article from good and fresh ingredients, using a distinctive name or brand, and, above all,
keep the quality up to
the standard. Better please old customers with prime goods than try to deceive new ones with
cheap and common
confectionery goods."
---Skuse's Complete Confectioner, 7/6 [W.J.Bush & Co.:London] 189? (p. 60-1)

Caramel recipes through time[1864]
Definition of carmel and
recipes
[NOTE: these confections are classed as "caramels," not called caramels].

"The use of cane sugar slowly spread outward from Bengal. In the seventh century
A.D., the Chinese emporer Tai-Hung sent workmen to Gur to learn the art of
sugar refining, and by the tenth century camel caravans were carrying "sand sugar"
north through the empty deserts to Europe. This newsly arrived cane sugar was
initially regarded as a spice, and in medieval Europe was used principally as a
medicine. It was enormously expensive and was therefore only available to the
wealthiest households. Nevertheless, sugar gradually began to be more widely
appreciated for its appetizing sweetness in sweetmeats, confectionery, and
desserts, while it was increasingly valued also as a preserving agent for fresh fruits.
Sweetmeats had appeared on the menu of the most sumptuous feasts and banquets
of the Romans, the Athenians, and in Byzantium, and the most wealthy and noble
households of the European Middle Ages adopted these delicacies for their own
tables. These sweetmeats were considered a digestive to clear the palate...Good
hosts weven placed little decorated comfit boxes filled with sugared almonds,
pralines, nougats, candied spiced preserves and lemon peel, marzipan made with
ground almond paste, egg whites, and sugar, and crystallized fruits, flowers, and
angelica for the delectation of their guests in the privacy of their chambers. It was
believed that sugar helped their digestion...Candying, probably developed in the
Middle East, is a very slow process of replacing the natural juices of the fruit with
the sugar solution or syrup. As in some fruit-drying processes, citrus peel and
some hard fruits are first soaked in strong brine or acid solution to draw out some
of the liquid before boiling and to encourage the fruit to absorb more sugar. Once
candied, the fruits can be "crystallized" by painting them with egg white and
dusting liberally with sugar...Once sugared, the fruit or flower is the left to dry out
in a warm,well ventilated place."
---Pickled, Potted, and Canned: How the Art and Science of Food Preserving
Changed the World, Sue Shepard [Simon & Schuster:New York] 2000 (p.
168-9)

One the THE best books on the history of confectionery (all kinds) is Laura Mason's
Sugarplums and Sherbet: The Prehistory of Sweets [Prospect Books:Devon] 2004
ISBN 1903018285. This source traces the origins of candy evolving from honey and
refined sugar. Candying, Ms. Mason notes, was a method employed in ancient times for
fruit preservation. Candied fruit could be dried or stored with syrup in airtight containers.
While the book does not specifically address candied apples it does contain a passage which is on point:

"Preserved fruit had been a status symbol for centuries. Before canning, freezing and air
freight, sugar was the only medium of conservation available...Originally, the technique
was used for more than merely keeping the fruit from rotting. Fresh fruit was regarded as
suspect by physicians, who thought it mostly 'cold' in humoral terms. In the seventeeth
century, Tobias Venner thought quinces, peaches, and apricots cold and dry, apples and
pears cold and moist with a 'crude and windie moisture'...Preserving with sugar (which
was moderately hot) made delicious sweetmeats that tempered the coldness of the
fruit...Fruit sweetmeats, including a few using honey, can be traced back to the earliest
collections of recipes. The confectioner faced with a glut of fruit had three options:
preserve it whole (in syrup or candied); cook to a homogenous paste; extract the fruit and
boil it with sugar to make a jelly. In skilful hands all three were exploited for decorative,
beautifully coloured and flavoured sweetmeats. Preserving whole involved a serious
attempt to conserve the integrity of fruits to that they appeared as natural as possible. All
recipes for preserves or "suckets' begain by cooking fruit gently, and then steeping in
syrup over several days. The syrup was concentrated by boiling a little more each
day...Finallly, fruit and syrup were transferred to gallipots or glasses and sealed with
bladder or paper until needed. Drained, the preserves could be sprinkled with fine sugar,
or candied by dipping them in sugar boiled to candy eight so encasing each piece in a
sugar shell. This method uses syrups boiled to relatively low temperatures. Candied fruits
are still made with varying degrees of skill in France, Italy, Spain, Portugal and their
former colonies. The quantities of sugar required, as well as the time and expertise, make
these expensive and luxurious sweetmeats even now." (p. 109-111)

About toffee apples
"Toffee apple. A popular confection on Britian, especially in the autumn, when they used
to be
prominent, with their vivid red color, at autumn fairs. A whole, fresh apple, on a thin stick,
is
dipped in a high-boiled sugar syrup which has been colored red; and allowed to set before
wrapping in cellophane. The Oxford English Dictionary gives on quotations
relating to
toffee apples earlier than the beginning of the 20th century. However, the use of the term
as a
soldier's slang for a type of bomb used in the first World War suggests that they were
already well
known, and probably have a longer history than the quotations allow. In the phrase 'toffee
apple'
the word 'toffee' means simple boiled sugar, not the mixture of sugar and dairy produce
which is
what the word usually refers to. This may be another indication of an older origin of the
toffee
apple...There is some similarity between toffee apples and the Chinese dessert items which
consist
of pieces of banana or apple fried in batter and then coated in a caramelized syrup.
Whether there
is any historical connection is not clear."
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford]
1999 (p.
798)

"Toffee-apples seem to be an early twentieth-century invention; they are first mentioned in
the
Christmas 1917 issue of the BEF Times."
---An A-Z of Food and Drink, John Ayto [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2002
(p. 345)

Mrs. D.A. Lincoln's Boston Cooking School Cook Book [1884] provides instructions for
"Candied or
Crystallized Fruit of Nuts" which approximates the formula described by Mr.
Davidson. It does not, however, mention the use of apples

The oldest recipe we have for toffee apples is this:

"Apples on a stick.
Take small apples and stick in each one at the top, a small wooden skewer, such as
butchers use
to pin roasts. Now cook a batch of Molasses Taffy to 280 degress F. Then dip the apple in
the hot
batch so as to cover it completely. Let the surplus syrup drip off, then stand them on a slab
until
cold."
---Rigby's Reliable Candy Teacher, W.O. Rigby, 19th edition [USA] 1919? (p.
215)
[NOTE: this book contains two recipes for molasses taffy, p. 144 and 145.]

[1924]
"Lollipop Apples
Select very small red apples, wash and dry them, put a stick or skewer in each, and dip them in the glace."

Glace
Glace or glace sugar is used for the dipping of nuts and fruits and for the making of various hard candies. It is an
exceedingly pure form of candy, very easily made, yet requiring careful watching, as it quickly clouds, and obviuosly, when not
clear, its beautiful effect is lost. It is from glace that the spun sugar nests used chiefly for their decorative purposes
are made. The remains of glace, after dipping nuts and candies, may be very delicately coloured, flavoured with a few drops of
cinnamon, clove, lemon, or any other desired extract and dropped or poured on to an oiled slab or platter in the form
of small candies.
1 pound sugar, 1/8 pound cream of tartar, 2/3 cupful water
Place all the ingredients in a small saucepan, stir only until the sugar has dissolved, then cook to 320 degrees. Remove
immediately from the fire and drip whole or half nuts and candy centres, one at a time, into the syrup, gently, so as not
to disturb it and make it cloudy. Lift them out immediately with the candy fork and turn on to an oiled slab or platter or
table oilcloth to set."
---Mrs. Allen on Cooking, Menus, Service, Ida C. Baley Allen [Doubleday, Doran & Company:Garden City NY] 1924 (p. 790-1)

"Turkish delight is a gelatinous sweet of Turkish origin, coated in powdered sugar. It is variously flavored
and coloured, although the variety most commonly seen in the West is made with rose water, and is
consequently pink. It is cut into cubes, and was originally called in English lumps of delight', a term
Dickens needed to explain in 1870: "I want to got the the Lumps-of-Delight shop," "To the-?" "A Turkish
sweetmeat, sir"' (Mystery of Edwin Drood). The name Turkish delight itself is first recorded in 1877. The
Turkish term for the sweet is rahat lokum, a borrowing from Arabic rahat al-hulqum, which literally means
throat's ease."
---An A-Z of Food and Drink, John Ayto [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2002 (p. 351-2)